Here's a good one
by KF fan
Summary: Set after season 5, Kid Flash is a Titan and Jinx is his girlfriend. Robin's his best friend. Everything's going his way. Or is it? [This story follows after Reach the Horizon]
1. Life is good

Dick Grayson glanced at his pal Wally West and then the wood bench at one side of the Jump City Academy quadrangle. He nodded toward the end of the bench. Wally slid over then Dick slid over against his pal, each benefiting from the warmth of the calf to shoulder contact. Better known to the public as Kid Flash and Robin, they were students at Jump City Academy. They only took two classes each, the same two classes, Calculus and Biochemistry. Classes at JCA were deliberately set up to mimic a college schedule. Wally's and Dick's two classes were Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. In the intervening hour, they would do homework, talk, read and sometimes do nothing.

Most of JCA's students boarded on campus. Between classes, they could walk back to their dorm if they wanted. Or, students could hang out in the student center in the middle of campus. But two months into the school year, seniors were looking to initiate the orange haired kid and the black haired kid who were always seen together. The orange haired kid didn't intend to endure any of it. "I already got my buns paddled in front of the whole school and then thrown naked into a pigpen, " said Wally. "I am not going through anything like that a second time." "Good, because I'm not going through it even once" muttered Dick. With his keen eye for fights including the buildups to them, Dick would take one glance around the student center and give Wally a push in the back toward the door without a word. Wally would look back with a slightly raised eyebrow. Dick would nod with a stern look. The two of them barely needed to speak, they were such close friends four months after Wally had become Dick's teammate.

JCA was built to look like a new england college campus, all masonry and ivy and odd sheltered spaces. But if anything, it was too sheltered and too shadowy. And with all the masonry walks and walls, the place was simply cold not just in atmosphere or ambience. It was physically cold. On top of that, JCA policy was that students weren't allowed in a classroom till 5 minutes before a class was to start. It was a brisk October day in the low 50's.

They had the sort of friendship that boys and men sometimes have in which the measure of their friendship was not what they could say to each other but the fact that they didn't have to say anything. They sat on the high backed church pew style bench in their JCA ties and blazers pressed against each other for 25 minutes without saying a word. They didn't even look at each other. They just stared out at the grassed quadrangle whilerunning their respective thoughts through their respective heads and keeping eachother warm.

"Pick one," said Dick interrupting their silence as a group of five JCA girls made their way across the quadrangle lawn in front of them.

"Hmm. Black girl in the middle," said Wally knowing exactly what the question had been.

"Really?" The 'why' was implicit.

"Dark dark skin and that pink blouse. Mmmmm," sighed Wally.

"You've got a thing for pink, huh?" said Dick. He could feel Wally shrug.

"Your pick?"

"The last one, the black haired one"

Wally just nodded with a smile. Dick knew it was there even before he turned around to see his pal grinning. "Yeah?"

"Nothin'"

"Well, there wasn't a girl with purple hair to choose, now was there?"

Wally gave Dick a playful shove for Dick having overreacted. Dick pushed Wally back and pressed him as hard as he could into the corner, the two laughing at this contest of strength. It was an even contest now. Dick was stronger, pound for pound, but after a growth spurt, Wally was now bigger. Kid Flash stood five ten and change and weighed a hundred forty three pounds to Robin's five nine and a quarter and a hundred thirty five. Neither won their pushing contest. They settled back down, wedged against each other on the end of the bench.

They were silent another ten minutes before Dick asked over his shoulder, apropos of nothing about something he'd learned 4 months earlier, "So . . Flash is your uncle?"

"Yeah"

"Were you born with super speed?"

"Nope. I got hit by a bolt of lightning that drenched me in all these strong chemicals at the same time and somehow the combination gave me super speed. But it wasn't genetic. It wasn't because of being related to Flash"

"How'd he get his?"

"Same way. Bolt of lightning."

"Seriously? Pretty longshot coincidence, don't you think?"

"Yup"

Another ten minutes passed.

The two boys contentedly watching passersby in the quadrangle and thinking their private thoughts about their classes, Jinx and Starfire. Eventually, a frown creased Wally's brow and he asked, apropos of nothing,"I'm not progressing as fast in learning jeet kune do as you think I should, am I?"

Dick sighed. Jeet kune do was the martial art technique synthesized by Bruce Lee and of which Robin was a master. "No. Some people just don't start with the knack for fighting. You don't have it. I didn't either at first. I'm not trying to knock-"

"No. It's true. You've got a feel for it . . if we fight at the same speed, you always see the right counterpunch, the right block or whatever quicker than me. What could I do to get it?"

Dick sighed. One of the things that had cemented their friendship was the way both readily admitted their own failings and wanted to improve on them. That Kid Flash had turned out to be so different from his first impression of him had been a tremendous pleasant surprise. And he'd love to have told his pal that he'd be able to get that same fighting edge. But, Dick recalled how he'd gained his sense of fighting, all the humiliating and enraging training sessions with Batman, getting complex combinations of leaps, punches, kicks and throws 99 percent perfect and always being told that it wasn't good enough, always being told to try harder and usually getting beaten up in the process, of being driven to almost murderous rage over and over.

"You probably can't. You're basically too nice a guy, Wally. Dedication is one thing, but you have to be completely comfortable with hurting another person. You have to almost want to simply hurt your opponent, to almost . . to get pleasure from it. I've . . uh . . I've sort of got that. Batman beat it into me, making me practice over and over and over and a lot of times beating me up pretty good, making me want to smack him, to give it back to him so hard. He desensitized me to it, made me kind of . . crazy about it. That kind of edge is a good thing to have but a terrible thing to get. But you've got your speed. You don't need to be as enthusiastic a fighter as me."

Several minutes more passed.

"Did Flash work you hard when you first started?"

"Yeah, but in a fatherly way. It was my first experience of actual fathering, of somebody putting time in with me. You remember. I told you how things were for me. So, I loved it. I loved being with Flash. He could have worked me till I passed out and I would've been ecstatic that he waited around till I regained consciousness to tell me to go home. But he was a lot better than that."

"My dad was great . . . and then I had Batman. I thought maybe I'd died with my parents and gone to hell," said Dick. "I was . . so effing . . hurt by the whole situation and his only response was to kick my little ass day after day in training and tell me I had to do better," sighed Dick. He had a moment of self questioning about revealing his hurt. But it was Wally. So, it was okay. He could vent like that, occasionally, with Wally and it wasn't weakness. Wally told him things, too. He looked over his shoulder at his orange haired pal who looked him right in the eye and met the seriousness of his gaze. Wally understood. And he freed his left hand from his pocket where it was being squeezed against his side by Dick and gave Dick a single pat on the shoulder, nothing more, then squeezed his hand back into his pocket without a word..

Several more minutes passed.

"Pretty ridiculous how they're all pleading down, isn't it?" said Wally.

He didn't have to say who. Dick knew exactly what he meant. He had the exact same feeling. Hell, he'd been thinking the exact same thing twenty minutes earlier. They were all pleading down and getting off light or even scot free. Some others were escaping custody. It was a disappointing result to winning a fight that would've gotten them killed if they'd lost to the Brotherhood and their villain allies.

They were a joke, those french courts. Robin remembered being frozen, of being helpless and paralyzed. The recollection was a mix of anger and shame but his thoughts became purely anger thinking of how the villains had all been unfrozen by the french police and tried under those nutty rules. He remembered standing there in court testifying about how he and other heroes had been frozen and telling the judges that everyone knew that Brain and Monsieur Mallah intended to leave the heroes like that forever. The defense attorney interrupted. "Mais . . pardon, ingleesh. But, you froze zem, too? Deedn't you?" He made it sound as though the whole thing was just a game, a tit for tat contest. The only ones who got real penalties were Brain, Mallah and Rouge. What was the phrase the presiding judge had used? Oh yeah. "A youthful indiscretion". Just a youthful indiscretion. That's all it was, as though the HIVE and Professor Chang and the others had joyrided with a neighbor's car or something. Those documents in Brain's files that talked about a program for the elimination of a generation of heroes so that the villains could run rampant now and into the future? Just "theenkeeng a-loud on paypair". Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! Dick shook his head remembering the robed fool's voice. Just short of sixty years later and the old Nuremberg defense had finally become a winner. "I was just following orders," said half the villains. "I didn't know where it was all going. It was just a fight." Amazing. Amazing and pathetic. Suspended sentence. Probation. Suspended sentence. Probation. Suspended sentence. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

In the end, it'd been a close run thing, the little tit for tat contest. Beast Boy had played the crucial role in keeping resistance to the Brotherhood going. Wally being out at Jinx's mother's farm had been lucky, in a way. No one knew where he was, including the villains, to capture him. And when he got Jinx to their hideout in France with him, the extra firepower had really helped put the heroes over the top. They were like the class couple or something of the teen hero set. The two of them couldn't be more serious. Robin smirked. The slightest little joke about her and he jumped. He physically jumped. He was so completely committed. So was she and that was certainly bizarre to see. Never thought anyone would ever tame her at all. Well, she really wasn't tamed in any way. It was more like a cat that chose to like someone. Cats won't take orders or do tricks on cue. And that was Jinx. Like a cat. She wouldn't do any tricks or anything for Wally. It wasn't in her nature. She couldn't. She couldn't take orders. Hell, how many times must she have hexed his butt just because she liked to? What must she be like when they were alone? Wow. But she had chosen him. When they made eye contact. He smirked again. It certainly made KF happy. And it was good for teammates to be happy. Happy teammates could use all their powers and the shit Wally could do was amazing. He reached back and patted Wally's shoulder.

Wally glanced at him then looked away. He couldn't look at his pal while thinking of Jinx. She was going to be at the Tower that night. They could be together.

Wally sighed.

Making love to Jinx. The warmth, the tingle, her eyes, her voice, her lips, her breath, her skin. He sighed again. He suspected that Dick knew exactly what he was thinking about when he sighed like that. He made a note to thank his pal some time for not making fun of him. It would've been so easy. But, there wasn't anything Wally could do to change his response to the situation. He loved her.

A smile from her was instant joy in him. The reunion with her mother! His chest swelled thinking about it now. And the night afterward! Ten? Fifteen minutes of sleep, holding her? And still they didn't feel tired. What a great thing it had been for Jinx. She was calmer now. Stronger, too, it seemed. And taking away that old wound had removed one of the reasons Jinx had thought she had to be a villain. She blamed herself for her father then mother having to give her up. Her powers, hexes and bad luck and everything had been out of control when she was a little girl and she'd ruined everything in their double wide. She'd exhausted and driven away first her dad then her mom.

But Wally'd had a talk with Aunt Iris about Jinx's background. He'd told her how bad Jinx felt about her parents and Aunt Iris had immediately made a suggestion. It was brilliant. Oh god, it was brilliant.He reproached himself for not seeing it himself. It was so obvious. He asked Aunt Iris how soon it could be done. With the idea of it in his head he wanted it to happen immediately. But he had to let her do her work. It took six weeks. He didn't know how Aunt Iris did it. She wouldn't tell. But she'd said she could find anyone. Anyone. Bin Laden? Screwing a goat on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Virginia "Jinx" Murphy's mother? She gave her nephew, Kid Flash an address. It was only twenty miles out from Jump City in the foothills of the mountains to the east. "Oh god, thanks Aunt Iris!" "Forget about it, Kid. That's what family's for."

"How would you like to do something that might be wonderful?" Wally asked her the next morning in Jump City. She'd met him, in his civilian clothes at a coffehouse.

"We can do things that I know will be wonderful, silly," she said with a pat of his thigh through his giant pants. "Why should I be taking any chances?"

"This might be a different kind of wonderful. Are you up for it?"

"Tell me! What've you got in mind?"

He shook his head. She brought two fingers to his hip and raised an eyebrow, a clear threat to hex his buns if he didn't tell. Buthe only shook his head in response.

"Yeow!" he yelped after she sent crackling pink energy into the side of his rear. She brandished her two fingers again. But again he shook his head.

"You're really serious about this?"

He nodded.

She sighed and shrugged her willingness to go along with it whatever it was. They left the cafe for a park. He went behind a tree and emerged a second later in his Kid Flash uniform with his clothes tied in a bundle. She held the bundle while he picked her up and then sprinted east of the City at the fastest speed he thought she could handle, just three or four hundredd milesper hour, a crawling pace to him and one that took them a couple minutes to reach the vicinity of the address Aunt Iris had given him.

Once they were a half mile away, he slowed to a normal jog and then stopped and put her down. He went behind a billboard and emerged in his civilian clothes while she fixed her hair. He pointed down the street to where they were going but refused to answer any questions about the goal of their trip.

At last, they approached a farm. The gently rolling hills visible from the road were covered in sun splashed leafy greens, the very image of successful agriculture. Wally insisted that Jinx remain there a moment while he went up to a worker raking beside a fence and asked a question. The worker pointed to the white house a hundred yards off the road. Wally took Jinx's arm and led her that way. She was nearly consumed with curiosity now but simply played along, going onto the porch with him.

The front door of the house was open with only a screen door barring the way. Wally knocked on the door. "Hello! Anyone home?" he called out. A slender woman in her mid to late thirties approached in boots and jeans and 2 layers of shirts and a sun hat, carrying a half empty bag of potting soil and looking distractedly around for something. Only at the last second did she look up at the boy in dramatically oversized clothes at the door.

"You're the new field help? You're supposed to be mine?"

"No, ma'am," said Wally stepping aside and ushering Jinx forward. "She is."

The two of them just stared at each other through the screen. Recognition was almost immediate on both their parts. Both their jaws dropped. Neither could speak. They just stared, their expressions mirroring each other's.

Recognition.

Shock.

Long suppressed longing.

That's where they were when Wally nudged Jinx aside and opened the door. Mrs. Murphy came out almost stumbling into her daughter's arms.

"Jinx!"

"Mom!"

Wally watched as they circled round and round hugging tight as could be then letting go and saying a word or a sentence to each other between tears and renewed hugs.

"Thank god you're okay, Jinx!" . . ."You look so healthy, momma!" . . . "Oh god! I thought was gonna read about your end in the paper some day." . . . "I thought I'd never see you again, momma!"

They hugged and whirled some more and Jinx's mom kissed her cheek and Jinx kissed back.

"I prayed for this day. I didn't think I deserved it, though. You know how bad a mother feels to leave her child? You know how many farm hands I've cussed out because I felt guilty about you?"

More hugging.

"You didn't have any choice, momma. I . . I was really hell to deal with back then."

Yet more hugging.

"It was still wrong. Even though I stopped feeling sick in one way, it just made me feel sick in another. I started reading about a girl, a villain named Jinx and what she could do, the hexes and the impossible bad luck and everything. I didn't think you were a villain but I knew even before I saw the pictures. I knew. I-I kept a scrapbook and I realized that I had to hide who I was in case someone wanted to find me to-to get at you. How did you find me?"

"I didn't, Mom. He did," said Jinx pointing to Wally.

Her mother tilted her head to one side with an intense appraising stare at Wally.

"You're him, aren't you? The skinny boy, the fast one? Aren't you?" She tugged at the waist of his giant pants revealing that there was only 26 inches of waist inside the cloth. "I've read about the two of you, all the coy little mentions in the gossip columns. You're him, aren't you?"

Wally smiled bashfully but didn't answer. Jinx's mother reached out and pulled off his knit cap revealing the thick tangle of orange hair beneath. She grinned at him and then hugged him. Wally tried to pretend stoicism, bending over just enough to allow her to and he kept from hugging back but he loved it. Finally she leaned back.

"Thank you," she said then stepped forward and squeezed him around his waist some more before she added, "Now, why didn't anybody see it in her before that? I mean, god damn! She was just a girl making her way the only way she thought she could"

Wally shrugged. "I don't know. I don't understand it either. I thought it was obvious, too."

Jinx and her mother talked for hours, catching up and confessing regrets and guilt. Jinx's mother told Wally all about Jinx growing up, every memory she had. She hugged and kissed Wally some more, thanking him for seeing the real Jinx. Jinx herself knocked him down to the porch floor, laughing and slapping him and demanding to know why he hadn't told her what he'd been up to.

"I didn't know that it would turn out like this," he answered. "Besides. It wasn't me who did the looking."

"It wasn't?"

"No. You remember, you said that Aunt Iris told you she'd kill you if you did me wrong but she'd be your greatest ally if you were right for me?"

"She . . . ?"

Wally nodded. "It was her idea. I told her about you and your family and she said that now that things are better, it would be a great thing for you to see them again."

"She did? That woman . . ."

"I told you she meant the good part, too!"

"I-I thought it was bullshit. I mean, I believed the killing part, but . . ."

Wally shook his head. "I told you about her."

They had a fantasticcouple days staying in the spare room of the farmhouse. Jinx's mother told them the improbable events by which she became the owner. She'd just finished when the Titans communicator he'd finally remembered to put back into the pocket of his giant pants had gone off. Beast Boy barely got out a message about all the young heroes being captured by the Brotherhood of Evil before the transmission cut out. Jinx immediately agreed to go with him to fight. And at the Brotherhood's complex she'd been terrific. If all those other young heroes hadn't been there at that moment . . .

Wally sighed.

His pal Dick grinned and pushed his shoulder against Wally's,before getting up from the bench, the way he always did.

"Come on, lover boy." he said over his shoulder. Wally was instantly at his side and they marched off to their class.


	2. Triumph

The moment biochemistry class ended, Wally and Dick started weaving through the crowd of students in the room and then out in the quadrangle. It was a set thing they did without a word. Wally could have rounded a corner and switched to his red and yellow uniform and been at Titans Tower a second later. But he just ran across part of campus beside Dick, across a busy street and into a large office building. Twenty seconds later, the T-car was rolling through city streets with Robin at the wheel and Kid Flash, as always, pleading for a chance to drive. Robin drove a scorching path through the streets and then over a cliff. He literally drove over a cliff. But, then, he did so every day. The T-car had had a few modifications courtesy of Cyborg. The wheels popped outward and started providing upward thrust. Another thrust emerged from behind where the license plate had been. A few minutes later they were landing on the roof at the Tower.

Once inside, Dick, as always, immediately started to do his homework. Wally wasn't quite so diligent. He returned to his quarters. He changed to his tight, red and yellow Kid Flash uniform leaving the mask down, loosely around his neck. He thought of Jinx's expected arrival that night. He pulled out the drawer of the nightstand built into the headboard of his Titans platform bed. Nearly a full box of condoms. He nodded in relief. Then he plugged in his Titans issued laptop and checked his email.

". . stock tip? Spam . . discount viagra? Spam . . make my penis larger? Hey! Complete spam! . . oh god, another one from S.T.A.R. Labs. What's this one? . . . hmmm, another physical, huh? Didn't you people poke me and stare at my buns and my equipment enough? Even made me bend over to look at my . . . ," he gave a shuddering shake of his head. "Delete! Delete with extreme prejudice. . ."

Wally listened to some music then did his homework at super speed then went back up to the great room. He first saw Robin.

"How is he?" he asked glancing at the green gorilla in the great room.

"Pretty good spirits. But if he leaves the tower, go to Murakami school and check."

Wally nodded. Beast Boy seemed to have resigned himself to his inability to win Terra back but they still weren't sure about his frame of mind. And they worried. So, Robin had Kid Flash see where he went when he left the Tower. It wasn't that hard. No bird or animal Gar became could get out of Kid Flash's sight. But he didn't try to follow him everywhere, just see that he wasn't still pursuing his Terra fixation. Gar hadn't gone to her school or waited outside her home for weeks now. Slowly, his upbeat personality had been returning. A laughing Cyborg was mock fighting the giant green gorilla in the great room, at the moment.

Wally was making his way to the kitchen for a pre-lunch meal when the light at the command station of the communications center began flashing both red and green. Kid Flash wasn't sure what that signified. In case he had to speak on the videoconference line, he pulled his mask up. "Robin!" he called over his shoulder toward the great room. "Red and green lights both flashing. What's that?"

A jump up from the couch, a running step then a tumbling run and a forward flip later, Robin was at his side.

"Showoff acrobat," Kid Flash grinned.  
"Hey, I get to have fun sometimes too." Robin smiled.

"Well, what do those lights mean?"

"Oh, that's a video call but not from East, Doom Patrol or Justice League. You've got more discretion to refuse one not from those sources or to give them only audio access."

Robin pressed a series of buttons. "Hmmph. S.T.A.R. Labs." Robin nodded. Sure. A moment later, the pretty image of Dr. Clyburn, the doctor who'd given KF his physical, filled the huge screen in her lab coat with a clipboard in her hands. She chuckled. "Kid Flash! Perfect"

Kid Flash flinched. Damn. He recalled the emails suggesting that they wanted to give him a follow up physical and discuss, what had they called them, anomalies? Can't delete the doctor on the communications screen. Oh well. Sigh.

"Good morning Dr. Clyburn!" he said with a forced smile.

"Why haven't you gotten back to us, Kid Flash? You never responded to our emails about a follow up physical."

Beast Boy was behind KF too, now, and gave a push to KF's backside.

"Cut it out, Gar," he grumbled over his shoulder before turning to the screen. "Sorry, Dr. Clyburn. I've been real busy trying to get acclimated here and do my share of patrolling and recon for group missions."

Beast Boy snickered, "Hehe. Nice lie pretty boy," he mumbled

"Uh huh, well, how about a commitment to a date on the schedule now?"

Kid Flash let out a slow exhale. Damn. Trapped. And worse, his friends weren't helping. Robin put one arm around his pal's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Dr. Clyburn. We want to make sure our pal KF stays healthy as possible. We'll make sure he shows up to a second physical," said Robin and he and Gar smiled at Wally.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Robin," said Dr. Clyburn flipping through sheets of paper on her clipboard. "Because . . hmm . . yes . . you're overdue for another physical yourself."

"What?" His arm dropped off Wally's shoulder.

"Yes. It's been . . . wow, almost two years. For a teen hero, a young man like yourself in puberty and constantly fighting under hazardous conditions, that's much too long. We'll do you at the same time, Robin."

Gar turned himself into a hyena behind them and let out the signature sound, like a snickering laugh, of that species.

"Dr. Clyburn?" asked Kid Flash. "Why can't I wait a while longer before another physical? I'm not asking for a-a," he turned to Robin, "clearly dangerous two year gap between physicals," Wally smiled at Dick, "Why do I need another one right away?"

"You don't need one, per se. It's just that, well, we're a little bit puzzled. There're . . there're so many things . . for instance, do you know that you don't have an appendix?"

This was news to Wally. "Well, uh-"

"And you didn't have any scar. Your skin was flawless, but then, it healed over immediately when we took the blood sample. Did-did you ever have your appendix taken out?"

"No, ma'am."

"See? That's why. You don't have an appendix but it's never been taken out."

"Well, it's superfluous anyway, isn't it? No uh no anachronistic digestive system feature no foul, right?"

She chuckled. "Uh. No. This is for your benefit, not just because you're the absolute favorite of the the boys in the DNA lab."

"Long as it's DNA and not gastroenterology."

Dr. Clyburn chuckled. "It won't be that kind of exam . . for you," she said and seemed to turn to look at Robin. His mouth dropped open.

Now, Dr. Clyburn was sure of it. It'd sounded like it before but now she was sure that she could hear the laugh of a hyena on the audio feed.

A date was set for three weeks out. When the screen went black, Kid Flash pulled his mask down to his neck again. Starfire immediately ran one hand through his hair with a giggle.

"Why are you so reluctant to be examined, friends KF and Robin? It is for your own good. You are very, um, healthy boys. You are not ashamed to be seen are you?"

"Of course not, Star," said Robin. "It's just uncomfortable to be stared at and poked and handled like a piece of meat like that."

KF nodded agreement.

"I bet they were fascinated by your orange hair, friend KF," she giggled.

"Actually,they thought it might besymptomatic of something being wrong with me."

"That's silly! I hope they didn't think anything so silly about your perfectly black hair, friend Robin," she said running a hand through Robin's jet locks. Robin blushed visibly. He stammered out a few words to the effect that they hadn't found anything wrong with his hair and left the room. Kid Flash watched Starfire closely as she watched him depart. She sighed and made a little expression of perhaps frustration or disappointment. She saw him watching her. She sighed again with an expression that was like a confession.Kid Flash's expression was one of sympathy for her.

"He is a riddle to me, friend KF."

"He's had a very difficult life."

"I have much sympathy for Robin. And I would like to express it."

"Sometimes leaders feel obliged to always be giving their strength to those under their command and feel that they cannot show weakness to them."

"But you already know about his life?"

KF shrugged. He couldn't tell her all that he knew about Robin..

"He is most admirable, friend KF, but somehow I am stuck as if in a role in a play, in a position where I can say that to you, his friend, but not to him. How did you become the boyfriend of Jinx? How did you move past roles like mine and his?"

Kid Flash sighed. "It's-it's different, Starfire. Robin and I are very different. I-"

"No. I disagree, friend KF. That is why I knew that you and he would become good friends, that you and he would not fight when you started to talk about your disagreements in friend Robin's quarters. You are very very similar warrior boys. You would both be good Tamaranian soldiers."

"Um, thanks. In a lot of ways, we are. But Robin and I talked once about how our powers influence us and shape how we behave and how we see things. My-my power effectively lets me slow time. It makes things possible. I always see possibilities. It's my natureand, well, frankly, my power, when I use my speed, it-it causes chemical reactions where I feel . . I feel euphoric. When I use my speed I feel euphoric."

"So, when you saw the girl Jinx . . "

"I-I thought she was . . exceptionally . . pretty and very very smart, too. I also thought it was perfectly reasonable to believe in the possibility that she could be something different, something better."

"Did you have to overcome many obstacles?"

"Well," Kid Flash chuckled. "She hit me over the head with a sign and knocked me out and then she and her HIVE teammates put me in a cage. So, it didn't happen immediately."

Starfire giggled into her hand. "Jinx put you in a cage?" She giggled some more.

"Yeah," he admitted with embarrassment. "But we talked some more. I showed her that I was willing to take a risk to be with her, that I took her seriously and thought she could do better. We had dates and talked and found more and more that we were right for each other. And now . . " he left it unsaid. "But you have to be fair to Robin. I was probably silly to act the way I did. But super speed influenced me to think that way. Robin's a tremendous leader and incredibly resourceful but he doesn't have a super power so he-he feels like he has to be unrelenting. Between that and the demands of leadership that he feels it-it may be hard for him to give himself the luxury of devoting his energy to something besides missions and patrolling. Can you see that?"

He waited for her answer. And he waited. And he waited. Her eyes went back and forth and her expression changed more than once.

"I can see that he is very admirable." she said and then walked away.

Kid Flash considered going to see Robin right away but decided it was best to let him be for the moment but talk to him on the way to school the next day if he didn't get the right opportunity before then. Instead, he followed Cyborg back from the kitchen to his quarters. It always fascinated him to watch Cyborg work on his limbs.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Seated on a large leather chair at the edge of the room, Cyborg casually pulled off his arm. Kid Flash gulped and sat down opposite him on the edge of Cyborg's bed.

"Trying out a new neural to cybernetic interface. The old one's good but I think I can be a little quicker if I improve the efficiency of my circuits receiving the pulse of commands through my nerves and translating them into commands."

"Uh huh."

"See, part of the difficulty is that computer programs are represented by either ones or zeros in a computer. But signals through your neural system don't work quite like that. They're more complex. Any attempt to represent them is going to inherently be a sort of imprecise translation," he said reaching into the socket of his shoulder with his human hand. "Good" he told himself feeling something there. "You see, it's kind of like commands going out from my brain in english and then my machine parts speak spanish. So I'm trying to speed up how fast the translation book turns hello into hola or whatever."

Kid Flash bent over to one side. "Um, I can see the inside of your shoulder socket there. And that is pretty freaking scary."

"Well, it should be scary to you to see that. You 'd be one sick orange haired fuck if it wasn't. But I've seen it hundreds of times. Doesn't bother me at all now. But, after the crash when I first got new limbs I was completely freaked out, too. But, see, this is my life, incremental improvements and an incredible maintenance burden," said Cyborg as he removed a thin coppery looking piece of tape at the shoulder end of his arm and expertly replaced it with another. "I can't be carefree like you. But that's okay. I get satisfactions that you guys don't get either. And I can become stronger and stronger. I can come up with new techniques, new weapons, new abilities. I'm always thinking about fights and opponents, and how I'll deal with them," said Cyborg with a sidewise grin at him. Kid Flash knew what that meant.

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"What would you do to fight me?"

"Well, you're an interesting problem. Your strength is good for your size but nothing special. Your fighting is good but nothing special."

"Thanks a lot."

"You've got no protection whatsoever against anybody who gets a shot in on you with just that uniform. In some ways, you don't have a whole lot going for you. But, what you've got is awesome. You can approach so fast that you're nearly invisible. I've watched how you rushed guys and they just didn't know what to do. One moment nothing. The next, they're getting red gloved fists in their face a hundred times a second."

"So, what would you do against me?" smiled Kid Flash.

"I'd keep you away if I could."

"How?"

"Well, I don't know if there's a surefire way. Gas. Laser trip wire. Electric shock. Gotta be something that you can't get around with your speed," he chuckled.

"Oh, I don't know. You might find I'm harder to deal with than you think. But why would you even bother thinking about how to fight me?"

"Heroes get hynotized or blackmailed or put under mind control. It happens. I've fought Gar and Dick. No reason I shouldn't prepare in case we fight. And, uh, how would you fight me?"

"Not gonna say," grinned Kid Flash.

"Ooooo," laughed Cyborg. "Smart."

Kid Flash nodded. He chatted a while longer with Cyborg, handing him tools now and then and listening to Cy's explanations of what he was doing while Philly International songs played in the background. He was very much interested. But when the intercom in his room buzzed with Starfire's voice telling him that Jinx was there, he was gone before Cyborg could even glance his way.

He met her at the elevators with a kiss. She saw Raven watching them over his shoulder, well really looking at him. It didn't matter. Nothing else mattered. They spent the whole night making love, laughing, sighing and moaning. He went to get food at one point in the wee small hours and came back with a bottle of champagne, just a half bottle left, a leftover from his 15th birthday party. He pulled out the cork eliciting a still robust popping sound.

"Oops," he said and started pouring it over Jinx. She was momentarily angry, but laughed and hugged him, seeing to it that he was equally covered withchampagne.

A few hours after that they were both quite free of any champagne residue. He was sitting up at the edge of the bed and gazing down at her lying sideways across his bed haphazardly covered by the sheets. "I know I have my bias, but it's just incomprehensible to me that you weren't swarmed over by boys wanting you," he said then bent over, rubbed the end of his nose on her breast. Lick, warm breath, evaporation cooling, point skyward. She smiled at him. "You're such a freak."

"Ugh."

"What?" she laughed. "I mean that in a good way."

He shrugged. "I-I don't like being called a freak. It's just . . I don't know."

She laughed again and ran a hand down the hard muscles of his V shaped back to his tiny waist then let it settle where her hands usually did. "Do you know any other boy with a waist as small as yours and a pair like this behind him?"

He screwed his face into an expression of displeasure.

"Look," she chuckled. "I, of all people, know that you're not on that team."

"Titans East?" he chuckled. "Anyway. Freak was kind of, was part of how I felt growing up. I don't like freak as a term. And I'm feeling a little extra freakish today. I found out that . . " he rubbed the lower right side of his flat stomach.

"What?"

"The doctor from S.T.A.R. Labs told me that I don't have an appendix."

"So what? Lots of people have their appendixes out. You've just got that super fast healing thing so the scar doesn't show."

"No, Jinx. I found out today. I never had my appendix taken out. I just assumed that I had one like everyone else."

"Are you sure?"

"Am I sure? Yeah. I think I'd remember if I'd ever been in the hospital. I've never gotten sick. Hell, I've never even had a cold. Never mind gotten cut open."

"Maybe it happened where you were too little to remember?"

"Are you kidding? If I'd ever cost my parents five minutes of their time never mind five bucks of their money having an emergency operation in the hospital I'd have heard about it forever," he said and then adopted a whiny imitation of his mother's voice. "You're eating us out of house and home and we'll never get back that $300 it cost us to save your life and take out your appendix, either. Most boys don't have to have theirs out. Your father and I spent $300 that we shouldn't have had to spend, because of you! We could have gotten things for your sister with that money!"

"She doesn't talk like that, does she?"

"Well . . not quite that bad," he smiled.

"So what? Nobody needs one anyway. Maybe the whole, what'd you call it, speedforce? Maybe the speedforce got rid of it to make you faster by ditching a few ounces of intestine?"

"Hmm. Maybe," he said then reached over and ran his hand down her side to her hip.

"So, they made you feel like a freak?"

He wouldn't look at her. "Yeah, that was part of the experience."

She chuckled, shaking her head. "They did such a number on you."

"Hey! I got through it okay. I'm here, aren't I?"

"You ever think of how damaged you all are?"

He frowned.

"No, seriously, you're all seriously fucking damaged. Cyborg and-and Beast Boy? Please!Robin must be fucked up in his background. That's how you slide so easily into the whole save the world thing. Look at you. They treat you like dirt, like absolute fucking dirt, your family does. They've got the cutest little orange haired boy and they won't talk to him or hold him or practically touch him. They treat you like dirt. And then the whole Kid Flash thing happens to you and, what'd you say, a hundred fifty seven? Was that the number that you quoted Robin, 157?"

He nodded with a sigh. He knew where she was going with this.

"A hundred fifty seven times you get called and a hundred fifty seven times you answer. There wasn't even a little bit of seeing yourself in a negative way because they treated you like dirt in your feeling like you had to answer every call? Hmm?"

"It's . . it's more complicated than that. Okay. Maybe I-I didn't have quite the self image I could have. I-"

"Didn't? Ha! Don't, Mr. Humble. Every woman in the world would like to sink her teeth into your buns but you go around like-like . . . do you even realize how Raven looks at you? I mean, Starfire's pretty open about the hair fixation and hugging you but Depresso-"

"Depresso?"

Jinx chuckled. "Yeah."

"Oh, she's not shiny happy people like you," he laughed.

"I am compared to her," Jinx smiled. "Except she's certainly upbeat about shooting glances at you. You are on her radar screen 24-7, Wally."

He shrugged. "If someone wants to look at me . . . I mean, I do wear the suit. It's pretty . . "

She grinned and shook her head at the defensiveness and humility of his words. Still doesn't see himself as the pretty boy he is. She rubbed his washboard abs with delight. He did the same to her in response.

"Anyway. The whole 157 thing. There's more to it than you said. Even if I was some Richie Rich, it'd be more fun to be running around as Kid Flash than to be in a mansion. And once you save a life or save someone's home, saying no to a call feels like choosing to risk someone else's life, choosing to let their home burn down. There're a lot of factors that go into it. It's not just some phony they-mistreated-me thing motivating me. Not even close."

She laughed. "This is soooo completely one of those male-female divides. About 50 of girls would absolutely milk your situation and play up the whole victim thing to the max, for all it was worth but you won't even admit it. Do you ever admit it to anyone? Do you?"

"I-I mentioned it to Robin."

"Robin! Captain Uptight? Really?"

"He's not quite what you think he is. Appearances can be deceiving. He-he was sure I was a lazy flake when he met me."

Jinx laughed. "You? A . . " She laughed and laughed and pointed at Wally and doubled over on her side laughing some more.

Then there was a knock at the door and he could hear a voice from a communicator under something off the side of the bed. He zipped over and retrieved it from beneath a blanket.

"Wally! It's almost time to go."

"Oh, shit. I'll be right out."

Robin shook his head with a smile at the brief image of Wally. Hair going every which way and, at least from chest up, nothing on. Twenty seconds later, Wally emerged in his gray dress slacks and JCA blazer, white shirt and tie, orange hair uncombed as usual but sort of neat anyway, as usual and otherwise looking like he'd spent some time getting himself ready.

"You ready lover boy?"

Wally shot a look at him.

"Alright. Alright."

They made their way quickly to the roof and were lifting off in the T-car just a minute later, Robin at the wheel, as always, and Kid Flash begging for a chance to drive, as always.

"You only just became legal two weeks ago. You were driving us to school illegally for a month before that. Give me a shot."

"No."

"Aw come on. It'll seem like slow motion to me."

"No. Seriously," said Robin as he steered the hybrid jet/rocket airship and supercharged car to a smooth landing at an overlook beside the bay before speeding off down the roar. "are you ready for school?"

Wally nodded. "I think so."

"You're not too distracted?"

"You should try some distraction yourself. Starfire seems like a suitable distraction."

"Maybe soon."

"Not just soon. Why not today? She's fallen for you, Dick"

"So many complications. I-I don't want to talk about it."

"What complications? Just have a dinner alone with her. Do anything alone with her. You don't have to call it a date. Just so long as it's just you and her, it's a start."

"What'd you do first time with Jinx, matchmaker boy?"

"I fought her and the HIVE. Probably not a good example."

"No. I-"

Robin's words were interrupted by a silent alarm call. A red light flashed on the console of the T-car and a map of the city streets showed on a display with a red dot at the location of the Jump City Reserve Bank.

"We might be late for class." said Robin as he yanked the wheel and spun the car into a hard right turn. He zigzagged his way through city streets but then was caught in three blocks of traffic gridlocked by an accident a half mile away from the Jump City Reserve Bank and right underneath a series of overhead wires. He looked upward out the window. "Damn!" Then,Robin glanced over just in time to see Kid Flash instantaneously attired in his red and yellow uniform.

"I can get there quicker, Dick. See you later." he said and Robin watched a red and yellow blur pass through traffic till out of sight.

Kid Flash got to the Bank and approached warily. But there was a guard outside. The guard suddenly found Kid Flash standing right in front of him.

"What's the trouble?"

"Ahh! Oh jeez, it's you, Kid Flash. Well, it might be no trouble at all. I just. Well, don't call me paranoid. But I thought I saw a light from the Jump City Modern Art Museum across the street. Maybe I'm crazy but I thought I did."

"I'll check it out," said Kid Flash leaving the guard behind and circling the oddly colored building across the street. Nothing. There were no signs of anything unusual. Okay. He vibrated through the wall of the museum and checked out the displays floor by floor. They were all intact and untouched through the first 5 floors. But on the top floor, the display had something extra.

Red X.

Kid Flash caught a glimpse of him rolling up a painting, just a series of blotches of color, really, and sticking it in a plastic tube and then Red X disappeared.

What the . . ? Alright, alright, he calmed himself. Cloaking device. Now where would he go? Top floor. Traffic jam below. Roof! Kid Flash sprinted to one of the building's fourstairwells. The door at the roof was locked but he just vibrated right through it. Out on the sunny top of the building, no one else was visible. Kid Flash waited there several seconds. He was watching the doors but realized that Red X might have cut a hole in the roof and not used any door.

Now, he was getting worried. Every second seemed like an eternity and not just because he was a time stretching speedster. The thief might be anywhere up there and throw one of his sharp little stars or an exploding X or who knows what at him without any notice. Damn cloaking device. But Kid Flash came up with an idea. There was a box, maybe a window box for flowers but full of rainwater just a few steps away and there were cigarette butts and a surprising amount of debris all over the roof. Kid Flash grabbed the box and sprinted to one corner of the roof. He threw the water up into the air and started whirling his right arm creating a sort of horizontal mini tornado that took in all the water and much of the debris on the roof. Kid Flash directed that tornado to sweep across the entire roof. There toward the opposite end, outlined in water droplets, cigarette butts and cellophane wrappers stuck to him was a slender athletic figure about the same height as Kid Flash.

"Hey pal!"

"Shit! I thought you just ran into people, pretty boy."

"I heard I wasn't the only one who ran into you that night," Kid Flash chuckled.

Red X's response was to produce a red and black X from his belt and throw it at Kid Flash. But fast as it was thrown, Kid Flash was fifty feet away across the roof when it exploded with a screech and a boom like a massive piece of fireworks.

Kid Flash was torn, wanting to just rush him and knock him out but spooked by the fact that Red X just stood there, not even tensed or prepared to defend himself. Why would that be? He whirled his right arm again and created another powerful vortex of air. Sure enough, he caught glimpses of color as something in the air around Red X was being blown away. Trying to get me with knockout gas, probably. Now's the time to act, thought Kid Flash. But Red X was already jumping off the roof. He dove off and then somehow started to glide down to the pavement below.

Kid Flash considered running down the side of the building but he needed to practice that particular trick. He couldn't do it like Flash could. So, he vibrated back through the door and down the six flights of stairs into the street. He gave it his best burst of speed and smacked a sprinting Red X in the back of the head knocking him down by the entrance to an alleyway opposite a small park.

"Trying to run away from me, chuckles? Not very bright."

Red X backed into the alley and threw three sharpened stars at Kid Flash. No normal person could have dodged those projectiles but Kid Flash easily stepped to one side and ducked and picked them out of the air like gently thrown frisbees. He put them on the ground.

"Thanks for offering to share your toys but you really don't have to. I'll just take 'em all from you in a minute if I want," he said and advanced. He bolted at Red X and smacked him where he believed his jaw was under his white skull mask, easily getting his fast past what seemed like a molasses slow attempted block.

Problem was, Red X's uniform tight as it seemed to be, had quite a bit of body armor underneath, especially upper body. Kid Flash thought he hit something but wasn't sure it was his jaw. He saw Red X reaching for him with gloved hands and correctly guessed electricity. He grabbed his hands in his own red gloved ones.

"My gloves don't conduct, either," he said to Red X and sidestepped X's attempt to kick him between the legs. He continued his motion, turned, spun with a kicking motion and smashed his heel into Red X's chest knocking him to the pavement in the alley.He heard Red X curse. He yanked at Red X's black utility belt and got that off him.

"This is for Robin," he said advancing on X as he got to his feet and then proceeded to treat Red X like a human speed bag. He threw a series of punches as Red X threw up his hands once to block. He dodged one glacially paced, to him, attempt at a kick and gave him a kick in return, throwing Red X back against a brick wall. Before he could gather himself, Kid Flash advanced and gave him two dozen uppercuts to thegut. He ducked undera super slowmo attempt to tag him with an electrified glove and delivered ten straight rights to his jaw. He thought he detected a hissing sound like another attempted use of knockout gas, so he stepped back and whirled his arm tocreate a burst of air at Red X. Then he moved in for the finish and threw punchafter punch past the ridiculously slow attempted blocks of RedX till the black clad thief slumped to the ground.

Kid Flash eyed him warily for a few moments then checked on him. Still breathing. Good. He grabbed him, lifted him over his shoulder and carried him across the street. He laid him over a low fence and as he did started to hear radio traffic from his teammates over the ear wing on the left side of his head.

"Watch out, KF! The reports we're getting are that it may be Red X. Remember to watch out for electric current in his gloves."

"Robin!" came a second voice that Kid Flash immediately placed as Starfire. It seemed that she was intending to speak only to him but that Robin had inadvertantly left the line open to Kid Flash so that it was an accidental 3 way call. "I'll feel very strange not telling friend KF."

Not telling me? Not telling me what?

"When someone close dies. A person should be told right away."

"We will, Star! Right after this mission."

Kid Flash's eyes went wide. What!

"Robin! What's going on!" he demanded, pressing the wing by his right ear to be heard speaking. "What the hell's going on?"


	3. The death of Aunt Iris

"I'm almost there, KF!" came Robin's shout in Kid Flash's left ear, the one where the uniform "wing" on the side of his head had a tiny speaker to play audio from Titan's communicator messages.

"What's going on Robin? Tell me now! I heard what Star said," demanded Kid Flash pressing on this right ear "wing" to talk.

"Shit. Frigging open line. Just-just hang in there, pal, I'm almost to a spot where I can take off with the T-car."

"Robin! Tell me now! Star said something about someone-someone . . passing away. Tell me now!"

"Just hang in there, pal!"

Kid Flash fumed. He almost clapped his hands together but, at the last moment realized he had the tube with the stolen painting in his left hand. How bad is it if Robin won't tell me? Can't wait. Can't wait. Alright. You won't tell me. Starfire will

Kid Flash pressed his right side ear "wing" three times to reset it to transmit globally, meaning, to all Titans communicators within receiving distance.

"Starfire! This is Kid Flash. What's happened? Please tell me what's happened."

"I'm so sorry, friend KF. But-"

BEEPBEEPBEEP! BEEPBEEPBEEP! One passing driver tried to get the attention of teen hero Kid Flash for a picture as he was moving and another driver tried to ward off the first driver from veering into his lane. Kid Flash zipped across the street to the alleyway.

"Star! I couldn't hear! Say that again!" Kid Flash pleaded.

"Ohhhh, KF! I'm sorry! But-"

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH.

It was Robin in the T-car landing it vertically in the alleyway behind him, jet air blasting down around it. He jumped out in a second.

"KF! Are you okay? Where's Red X?"

"I kicked his ass. He's um, over there on the fence. But tell me what's . . " he said pointing with a thumb to the fence. Only when he and Robin glanced there, the black clad thief was no longer draped, butt up, over the fence. He wasn't there. "Hey!" Robin ran out into the street looking frantically all around. But there was no sight of Red X. Robin loped back to Kid Flash a bit angry.

"Sorry," said Kid Flash. He handed the tube with the painting to Robin and picked up the utility belt he'd taken from Red X off the pavement and handed Robin that as well. "I . .. tell me what the hell's going on."

Robin tossed those things in the T-car window. He put his gloved hand on Kid Flash's shoulder.

"Wally. I'm sorry. They took the call at the tower after you and I left. Flash couldn't reach you because his ring was damaged in the fight afterwards. Your Aunt Iris . . . she-she was killed."

"WHAT!"

"I'm sorry, Wally."

"No." Wally shook his head dismissively. "It's not true. It can't be true. That's not Aunt Iris. Uh uh. Not her."

"W-wally. I wish I were lying but I'm not. They took the call at the Tower and-"

Robin was left mouthing his words to empty air as Kid Flash shot off toward the Tower leaving him there alone. Robin pulled out his communicator. "He's going back, guys."

Kid Flash heard "guys" from beside them, startling Beast Boy, Starfire, Cyborg and Raven with his presence.

"Holy shit! KF!" Beast Boy chirped. Can he really run that fast?

"Robin said my aunt is hurt. But where is she. Is she in Central City with my Uncle Barry?"

"Ohhh! Friend KF!" Starfire wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so sorry. I know that you loved her." She rubbed his yellow clad back with affection.

He gently separated from her. "Love. Present tense. I love my aunt. She can't be . . . Someone like her? Someone who means what she does? I-I would feel it. I would know it. I would know it. That hasn't happened. Now tell me where she is. I have to be with her if she's hurt."

"KF," interrupted Raven. "She dead. Your uncle called to say so."

He shook his head first slightly then emphatically, tilting his head to one side. "No. That's not Aunt Iris. She's not a go early type. She'll live to be a hundred and pass along all she knows to generations of people that love her."

Raven stared. He would not accept their word.

"Fine. I'll get it myself," said Kid Flash. He went to the keyboard at the communications center and typed away at a speed that amazed Cyborg beside him. The monitor now showed the number from which the call had come in to the Tower. Kid Flash recognized it right away. It was the number at Flash's house outside Central City.

"I'm gonna tell Jinx and then head to Central City. I-"

Starfire grabbed his arm. "KF. Please. At least take this," she said pulling off his glove and wrapping an elastic through two holes in the back of the communicator then around his slender wrist before pulling his glove back on.

"Thanks." he said then sped down to his quarters on 13 and vibrated through the door. Jinx was asleep on her side holding a pillow to her looking so incredible. He approached and nudged her.

"Jinx babe?" he whispered.

"W-wally?" She yawned and smiled. "What're you doing here?"

"Aunt Iris is hurt. I'm going to Central City. I'll be back when I can," he said and kissed her softly on the lips. Then he was gone. Cyborg watched him out the window from the great room as he sprinted a cross the bay leaving two small waves heading out from the path he'd run across the water. He stepped quickly to the keyboard at the communications center. With a few keystrokes, the giant screen on the wall lit up showing a map of the western U.S. A red dot flashed on the map. It was now a third of the way to Nevada.

"That is our friend, KF?" asked Starfire over Cyborg's shoulder. Cyborg nodded. This was GPS tracking of his Titans communicator.

"Boy can seriously run, can't he?"

"What's with the denial?" snickered Raven. "Does going nuts help you deal with death? I thought he was smart, not adumbell."

A watery eyed Starfire turned angrily to her teammate and spoke through gritted teeth. "He loves his aunt very deeply andregards her as the only real parent he had, as the person who made his present life possible. You want him to just immediately throw aside his love, to just immediately regard that love as a thing of the past. But he can't. It's very strong in him. Perhaps someday a love of someone or something will be strong in you," said Starfire and she walked off as Cyborg and Beast Boy both stepped back from them.

Cyborg watched the screen again as the red light that was the position of his teammate progressed across Nevada, to Salt Lake City, then south, then east to Denver then on to Central City covering more than a thousand miles in less than a minute.

A winded Kid Flash ran down the street where Flash lived and vibrated in through the front door of the expensive home set back from the road that Uncle Barryand Aunt Iris shared.

"Uncle Barry!" she shouted from the living room. "Uncle Barry!"

"In here, " came the limp response from the kitchen. Kid Flash walked in to see Uncle Barry, the Flash, in civilian clothes, dress pants and shoes and a white shirt, leaning, as if injured, perhaps shot or stabbed in the gut, leaning on the counter barely able to stay upright. Kid Flash pulled his mask down from his face.

"Uncle Barry!" he whispered, hoping that Flash would tell him about Aunt Iris's injury. Flash wrapped his arms around his fire haired nephew and Wally immediately knew that the worst was true. Because Flash couldn't stand without his help. His six foot tall perfectly toned uncle couldn't stand without Wally's help. And he felt his mentor's tears on his neck as they hugged.

"She was all I ever wanted, Wally," he sobbed. "The most wonderful woman . . . Oh god!" He sobbed some more onto his nephew and the reality of it suddenly struck Wally with his uncle's use of the past tense to describe her. Despite trying not to, Wally couldn't help but sob as well. "Aunt Iris . . is . . "

Flash hugged with all his might and gave Kid Flash a slap on the back before stepping back and forcing a breath to try and compose himself.

"How could it . . . Why didn't I . . ?" Wally stammered of his surprise at not feeling, not sensing her passing.

"Please Wally. There was nothing you could do," said Flash misinterpreting. "Officially, she had a brain aneurysm. That's what the papers will say. But . . ," he shook his head. "Professor Zoom. He killed her. Murdered her. I chased him but he got away somewhere in the time stream."

Wally recalled what he knew about Professor Zoom. Villain from the future, time traveler jealous of Flash, speedster with almost the same abilities as Flash, who wore a uniform the exact opposite of Flash, yellow where Flash's was red, Red where Flash's was yellow. Whack job.

"Why . . why would . . ." a tear rolled down Wally's cheek. "Why would anyone hurt her?" he asked as he felt himself crumbling.

"I think he wanted to get it on with her and she wouldn't touch that 29th century psycho."

Flash saw that Wally was on the verge of breaking down and hugged him again. He half carried him to a chair and gently put his sobbing nephew down. The doorbell rang. A tall man in a black suit came in. Kid Flash recognized him. It was Green Lantern. Minutes later, Batman arrived. Superman followed shortly after that and then Wonder Woman and Aquaman all in civilian garb. Still, they were easily recognizable to Wally. So was the sobbing boy in the chair who had his face in his hands. All of them worked their way around to him and placed a consoling hand on his shoulder.

Wally cried. He cried quiet tears. He cried full throated sobs. He cried tears with his whole body seeming to shudder along with the falling of the tears. He didn't care who saw him this way or what they thought of it. The best woman he'd ever known was dead and he'd never had the chance to say goodbye or to say thank you to her, to really thank her for being so wonderful to him when no one else cared. Wally called out curses between his tears. He rained expletives on Flash's envious rival from the future, Professor Zoom, almost as much as he rained his tears on Uncle Barry's kitchen floor. He cried between gasping breaths, unable to speak the words of his sorrow. When he finally stood up, there were more heroes there and he faced them, not sobbing but still crying a steady flow of tears.

He tried to focus on all of them, to think of something else to some degree. They were the legends of the hero business. And there was an easily recognizable comraderie of long standing among them so Wally stayed out of the way, stayed off to the side. There were all very kind to both Uncle Barry and him. But he couldn't stop crying. He wanted to be brave in front of all these legendary heroes but he couldn't be. He felt weaker and weaker, a willowy boy compared to his uncle's fantastically broad shouldered teammates. He had to get out of there. He had to get away from the feeling of mourning. He couldn't bear it. It was too much. She had made everything in his life possible. She couldn't be gone now that he was just starting to become what he'd hoped to be. And she couldn't be gone without a goodbye. It-it seemed to diminish their connection. She could go without a word. He didn't stop her from going. His love for her didn't stop her from going. It didn't matter.

Kid Flash pulled up his mask and ran out of there at super speed. He ran to the Central City morgue. It scared him but he had to. There, in a basement room, was Aunt Iris. There were no coroners or other personnel in the room at the moment. Only it wasn't Aunt Iris any more. Aunt Iris had a fire. She was joy and strength. She was so much energy and personality and courage toward anything that life could throw at her. Aunt Iris was always more about human qualities and attributes than simple appearances, even though she was a very pretty woman.

He had his back to the wall of the room and he stared.It was terrifying. A wonderful human being with all her human qualities now gone. Thank god the sheet was up by her shoulders. He didn't need to see more to have her dignity trampled, as if she didn't matter.

There was still color in her lips. Her eyes were still blue. But they stared upward at nothing. They didn't move. Wally remembered how shocking that first dead body he'd seen had been, as he'd told Jinx. But this was much worse. He could only guess at the life and vitality and human qualities of that poor first dead guy he'd ever seen. But, he knew all the funny, challenging words that had passed those lips on the gurney. And he knew the way those eyes sparkled when making a funny joke or when she was happy. He remembered making her happy the night of his 15th birthday party. There was that certain quality, almost like a smile that you could see in just her eyes. He wanted to make her smile again. He desperately wanted to make her smile. He'd have given anything.

But she was dead and her eyes just stared at the white ceiling. Wally started to sob. He cried without reserve, dropping to one knee for feeling weak, no longer whole without Aunt Iris in the world. Finally, with all his will, he got to his feet and moved slowly to the gurney. "I love you," he whispered, not able to manage anything more. He stared a few moments more, feeling the loss of her like a weight on his shoulders. The stillness was so horrible. It was death.

He took a breath and tried to speak the word but couldn't. He took some more quick gasping breaths. He realized that there was a little piece of finality if he said it. But he had to say it.

"G- . . "

He had to take another breath. He forced the simple physical process. Inhale . . exhale.

"G-good . . bye . . Aunt Iris"

He sped angrily out of there sprinting back to Uncle Barry's barely noticing anything on the way through teary eyes.

He vibrated through the wall of Uncle Barry's home so as to not attract any attention. He returned to the same simple wooden chair. That's where he was when Black Canary, Green Arrow's beautiful blond girlfriend went to get something to drink. He was leaning back with the high chair back wedged under one arm, his mouth open, eyes occasionally moving and gasping for air.

"Oh, Wally honey!" She rushed over and hugged him about his shoulders and smoothed his hair back from his forehead over and over. "You poor guy. This must be terrible for you."

He looked her in the eye and slowly nodded.

"Your Aunt Iris and I talked all the time. You were very special to her."

Oh god. That was too much. Wally tried not to bawl. He succeeded in that but he couldn't staunch the tremendous flow of tears those words started. "She was very special to me," he said then lost composure and had to lean forward and put his face in his hands. She just rubbed his shoulders over and over whispering consoling words.

Finally, Green Arrow in a sharp looking tan, civilian suit, came into the kitchen. "Did you hear that, Dinah? Calling hours tomorrow, wake tomorrow ni- . . oh, Kid Flash. How're you holding up, Kid?"

Wally looked up at him and shook his head slightly, tears still running down his cheeks.

"It's okay, Kid. There's no shame in strong feelings for a woman like Iris West."

"Maybe you should call back to Titans Tower and tell them about the arrangements?" suggested Black Canary and then Green Arrow repeated them to him. Wally nodded. Something to do. That was good. Anything to do was good. He started to press at the wing by his right ear to speak then vaguely recalled that he had a communicator with him. He puzzled at where and then remembered Starfire putting it on his wrist. Of course! He pulled off his glove and there it was tied to his wrist with an elastic. He took a long slow breath to compose himself then pressed the sequence of buttons for visual and audio communication. He held it out at arm's length from his face.

At Titans Tower, Jinx and Starfire were standing at the communications center desk. They had been for most of an hour. Jinx had gotten up and been told what had happened. She was hurt, too. She knew how much Aunt Iris meant to him and anything that hurt him hurt her. Plus, the woman had found her mother. She'd done that for her. She really liked the woman. And now she was gone. Beast Boy had told her of the words between Raven and Starfire just wanting to be sure that Jinx didn't do anything to help spark a fight between them. But it only inspired anger toward Raven from Jinx herself. He's stupid, is he? Wally's stupid, huh? Knew enough to leave you alone, bitch, didn't he!

Jinx and Starfire both eyed her warily sitting in the lotus position on the couch opposite video game playing Beast Boy and Cyborg. Robin was at the communications desk too, when the big screen flickered on. It filled with the face of Kid Flash. His mouth hung open and his eyes moved slowly. There was very little life in them.

"Aunt Iris was killed," he said after a long pause. "There are going to be calling hours tomorrow and a wake tomorrow night, funeral the day after."

"Well be there, KF!" declared Robin. "We want to be there for you."

"That'd be . . that'd be . . good," he said. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn't. He tried a second time. On the third attempt, he read off the address of Flash's home and added a limp "bye"before turning off the communicator.

Author's note:

Yeah, I know. Professor Zoom is from the 25th century in the comics. But the 25th century seemed more futuristic in the 20th than it does in the 21st. And in response to a question, Wally and Dick take two courses each at Jump City Academy just because they want to, auditing the classes. JCA is part of Wally's cover story, too. The other Titans weren't interested in taking any classes there.


	4. Waking Aunt Iris

Wally stepped into the living room and was met by the stares of most of the Justice League. Uncle Barry motioned for him to come over and sit beside him. Wally squeezed in between his Uncle and dark suited, civilian clothed John Stewart, the Green Lantern who had Wonder Woman, in a navy pantsuit, on the other side of him. Seated in the sofa opposite them were Batman and Superman, both in black suits. Green Arrow sat in a recliner and Black Canary rested on the arm of it, half leaning on him. Aquaman sat regally in another large chair. Wally glanced to his left and seated atop the couch back between him and John Stewart was six inch high Atom. Sue Dibny was seated in a chair by the entrance of the room. Her husband, Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, was seated in the next room and stretched his neck around the corner so that his chin rested on her shoulder.

They were all talking about how to apprehend Professor Zoom, Aunt Iris's murderer. Wally tried to follow along with what they were saying about the time stream and a butterfly effect and alternate futures, but if his eyes moved just to the left or right of any Justice Leaguer he saw Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry's photo collection spread out in a half dozen different places. Batman made a point about alternate futures that everyone thought was decisive but Wally couldn't keep his mind on it. Just to the right of Bruce Wayne's head, was a framed picture of Aunt Iris and him in the stands at the NBA game she'd taken him to after Christmas. His breath seemed to fail. He had to close his eyes hard. Oh god. He didn't mind crying about her in front of all of them but he didn't want to seem too wimpy, either. He was acutely conscious that most of them were much much stronger than he was.

"What is it, Wally?" asked Uncle Barry in response to his nephew's labored breathing and wrapped his arm around Wally's shoulders.

"The picture on the table," Wally blurted out through short breaths. "Aunt Iris and me just after Christmas," said Wally as his blinking was no longer enough to keep his tears in.

"It's okay Wally. Let it go. It's okay," said Uncle Barry. And from his left, John Stewart leaned close. "To be hurt by the loss of someone you love isn't weak. The hurt measures how deep the attachment was, not how strong you are. Let it flow, son."

"Oh god," muttered Wally and his head fell limply back as he opened his eyes, breathing with difficulty as tears flowed in a nearly steady stream down his cheeks onto the yellow chest of his uniform.

In a pattern that repeated itself over the next few hours, he slowly regained his composure but then saw another photo of Aunt Iris and was reminded of some quality about her that made it painful to lose her. He shed more tears, etc. The one thing that was good was to be wedged in tight by Uncle Barry and for Uncle Barry to have his arm around him in a fatherly way talking to him.

It felt good to Wally and it felt good to Flash, too. Looking after his nephew distracted him from his own pain. And he didn't mind looking after Wally. He was a terrific kid, so hard working, so dedicated. Batman spoke so glowingly of Robin at the League. And sometimes Green Arrow would talk about Speedy. Sometimes Aquaman would relate an anecdote about Aqualad. But Flash thought Wally was best of them all and he said so, to the others. It was a sort of friendly competition among them about their proteges. The unspoken implication was that having the best protege meant you were the best mentor. But irrespective of any comparisons, Flash was proud of Wally. Iris had been like a lifeline thrown to the boy. Of course he's deeply hurt. It's only natural. But he'll get over it. Iris would want him to. She wouldn't want a memorial to her to be an injury to his spirit. Flash remembered little Wally on that same couch, on Christmas Day just weeks after getting super speed, feet up on the couch, knees to his chest, sitting between Iris and him listening with rapt attention, eyes like saucers as he explained to Wally what there was to learn from episodes of Columbo. And Wally said he'd used those exact lessons to help exonerate Jinx of the bank robbery charge the HIVE had tried to pin on her. Flash breathed deeply and remembered telling that to the others up at the JLA satellite with great pride. He gave Wally a squeeze about the shoulders as tears were falling like rain from his nephew's cheeks.

"It's okay, fella. You'll get through this," he said softly and rubbed his hand over the side of Wally's head.

It was working for both Flashes. And this didn't go unnoticed by the others in the room. Black Canary smiled and made a mental reminder to tell Barry how good he'd been with his nephew. Ollie could certainly do more for Speedy. And she glanced sidewise at Batman. Poor Robin.

But Batman's thoughts would have surprised Black Canary. He'd felt humiliated at Titans Tower four months earlier. He'd since put in time thinking about his protege and doing him justice. What was justice? Was justice only meting out incarceration and punishment to those who did wrong? No. Justice was praise of the good, too. He watched Flash hugging his nephew with one arm around the shoulders of his protege and nodded almost imperceptibly. He even admitted the quality of one feeling the sight evoked. Envy.

Aquaman looked on with a different perspective. Hmmph, he sniffed. Even a boy who cries a river has more fecundity than Garth. He's the one who converted a villain girl to the right side, isn't he? Wanted the girl so bad he fought a whole team of them and brought her over from villainy. Meanwhile, Garth has maidens practically begging him, no, not just practically, actually, actually begging him but . . ! Sigh. Poseidon! How will the line ever be continued? Who knows what he's doing right now? Didn't Ollie say that the two of them are coming here on the Titans East plane? A good test of the autopilot! Sigh.

Toward evening the rest of the Teen Titans arrived along with Jinx. They pulled the T-Car right into the garage and got out in their hero clothes. The Justice League members and Wally had all gotten up from the living room and greeted them in the kitchen. Robin went straight to KF and hugged him. "How're you doin' buddy?"

Kid Flash just shrugged weakly.

"I've been there, Wally. I can help," Robin whispered.

And Jinx hugged him for minutes, letting her own hurt come through at the sight of deeply wounded Wally. She shocked herself that she cried on his shoulder, such a girly girl, emotional, wussy girl thing to do but there it was. But how much must he have cried? The tear tracks down his cheeks were plain as could be. And holding him in a hug, he felt weak and he felt hurt. The look in his eyes! He was devastated.

"Oh Wally."

Batman told everyone what the plans were. There was a block of rooms waiting at the Central City Ritz hotel for everyone. Everyone had their own room, except Ollie and Dinah, of course. Calling hours at the funeral home would be from 2 to 6 tomorrow. The wake would be held at a function room of the Central City Ritz.

Just as he was finishing assigning room numbers, Speedy and Aqualad showed up. They both hugged Flash and offered condolences then lightly hugged Kid Flash.

Wally was just carried along by the plans the others made. He found himself being led out of the house. He gave Uncle Barry a hug before stepping out the doorway because he happened to walk past him. Then he got into large car, a Bentley or Rolls, perhaps, driven by Green Arrow, Ollie Queen, with Dinah at his side in the front seat. Wally found himself wedged between Jinx and Speedy in the back. Ollie drove from Flash's house to the valet parking of the Central City Ritz. It could've been anywhere for all Wally knew. He was lost in thought about Aunt Iris. He never noticed noticed Speedy's hand against his left hip or Black Canary's many glances back to check on him. He was vaguely aware of the pleasant warmth of Jinx beside him and her soft whispers but that was about it.

Poor Aunt Iris. She did so much good. She didn't have a super power or utility belt or supernatural abilities but she helped change thousands of lives for the better with her reporting. Any businessman in New York City who doesn't have to deal with the mob to have his trash picked up can thank her. And anybody who gets access to drugs quicker, instead of at the FDA's cover their asses at all costs pace, can thank her. And everybody who doesn't have to deal with all those crook politicians she exposed, the Clinton commerce department guy, that congressman shakedown from new york and the others from Washington and Louisiana can thank her. I get to run around in a uniform and be officially a hero. Have I done so much more than she did?

Wally dwelt on this and other things about Aunt Iris till they were almost in front of the Ritz and Jinx elbowed his side.

"Wally!"

"Huh? What?"

"I was saying, Wally" began Black Canary looking back from the front seat. "Why don't you run on in to the hotel the way you can. Go on up to the 26th floor and we'll see you there. I've got a hat for Jinx and we've got some sweats that Speedy can pull on but the other Titans have your civilian clothes. They'll give 'em to you inside."

Wally did as told and a few minutes later the others were all there. It seemed the whole room of floors had somehow been blocked off for them. "Wayne Corp." said Robin under his breath to Wally. Everyone went to their rooms and unpacked their few things.

It was a weird evening socially. Everyone liked being together but hated that it was for the reason of a death. Everyone was almost afraid to laugh out loud or smile too much on this occasion. Robin stuck close to Wally and Jinx who had no fears of doing either. She hadn't realized that he and Wally were so close. But there wasn't much for a friend of any degree to do right then. Wally was crushed by Aunt Iris's passing and barely spoke a dozen words that evening. He stared off to one side or straight ahead lost in somber thoughts of her and every so often cried at some recollection of her.

"If it wasn't for her," he said to Jinx as they were getting ready for bed, I wouldn't be Kid Flash. She arranged for me to be at Uncle Barry's lab that day. If it wasn't for her, I'd probably be some kind of criminal or bad guy. How would I get through my years with my family if not for her? And now . . . " his voice trailed off.

He slipped under the covers next to her but only held Jinx close looking straight into her eyes from an inch away. Not quite straight into her eyes even with the two of them embracing, she could tell, he wasn't there. Ooooooooooookay. Well, this is different, she thought. The sex freak, 15 year old foreplay lover just wants to lie next to me. Now, I've seen everything. She watched his eyes slowly moving the way peoples' eyes do when they recall things. He wasn't there. He was at a family gathering 8 years ago or with his aunt and uncle 4 years ago or somewhere that he remembered. She had no clue. It was okay. She understood. At least he wasn't so hurt at the moment that he was moved to tears. His right arm was under the pillow somewhere but his left hand idly grazed the skin of her hip. Like I'm the only one automatically going for someone's buns, huh, she laughed to herself. But even her smile went unnoticed and her hand going up and down him from thigh to shoulder went completely unnoticed as well. Amazing. She sighed. Poor Wally.

She endured a half hour of that, passing time seeing if he would even notice her hand on him. Nope. And thinking of the term "iris", she stared for quite some time at his blue blue eyes, at first with no particular purpose but then trying desperately to find some irregularity in the color. Everyone had at least minor differences in color in their eyes if you looked real close, didn't they? He didn't. She'd been struck by this before but hadn't had a half hour to try and find some irregularity. The blue was not only very bright but perfectly uniform. Every little cell of the lattice pattern of his irises was exactly the same blue. Something almost seemed wrong for it being so right. Finally, she reached toward those eyes.  
"Wally?" she whispered. He didn't move until her fingers were almost in them.

"Hey."

She put her fingertips to his eyelids and pulled them down.

"Go to sleep Wally. Just go to sleep."

With a sigh and nothing more he obeyed.

She woke on top of him, Wally lying on his back, the steady, comforting beat of his heart under her right ear. She had no recollection of moving there but, fine, it was more than pleasant enough. She pretended not to have awakened, at first, because she wasn't sure if he was already up. But she quickly realized that he was and then pretended to be sleeping to allow him to make the decision. She knew he was up. He lazily ran his hand over her again and again. He was thinking about his aunt some more. She knew that's what it was. She could see the clock. It was just after 8. Some time just after 9, his slow slow breathing sort of hitched, like a long smooth line suddenly having sawtooth jumps in it. Crying. He held her tighter and she went back and forth in her mind between showing that she was awake and just letting him work through it on his own. She let him. They finally got up around 10 and had a big breakfast from room service. They ate in near silence, but at least his mood had sort of stabilized. He kissed her and thanked her for her understanding and they joined some of the others in Robin's room where they passed a few hours with some of the most inconsequential small talk ever. Wally and Jinx ordered some more food, three meals for him, one for her and they ate heartily before heading out with the others to calling hours at the funeral home.

They rode in the Bentley with Green Arrow, Black Canary and Speedy. He was much more alert this time. "Hey, get your hand . . "

"Oh, sorry," said Speedy as Jinx then got in on the other side of Wally.

"You clean up nice," said Black Canary reaching from the front seat to his cheek. "I like the combed hair."

Jinx laughed. "I combed his hair."

"Well you did a nice job," she said to Jinx and added to Wally. "See, there're still people looking out for you."

He nodded. I know.

"Will you do my hair, too?" asked Speedy.

"No." Jinx chuckled dismissively and Ollie and Dinah guffawed.

Sitting beside him in the Bentley, Jinx could feel him tense up as they got there. Another step in the process, she figured. More confirmation, more finality to Aunt Iris's passing. But once inside, he was okay. And all the Justice Leaguers and Titans checked in with him to see if he was okay. Jinx stayed beside him the whole time and Robin was beside him for much of it as well. His comments were pretty innocuous, but his body language and expressions, all the visual cues he was giving off were more sympathetic to Wally than she ever would have guessed would be the case. Hmm? Wally'd said he wasn't what he appeared to be at a glance.

But everyone in the room tried to appear to be only what they seemed at first glance when other visitors were there. There were other reporters with whom Aunt Iris had worked. There were editors. There were a couple different people whom she'd helped with her reporting. There were neighbors. They all went to Wally's Uncle Barry. Jinx was pretty sure they just wrote her off as the nephew's punk rock girlfriend with her hat over her hair. Wally went up to view the body just once. They'd put more makeup on her than she ever used. He felt odd about noticing that right away, about wasting a precious moment of thought so close to her with something like that, but Aunt Iris used as little makeup as possible at all times, usually none. She still looked pretty there, just not in the style that Aunt Iris had actually had. He sighed and spoke in his mind as if speaking to her.

"I'm not sure how I can talk to you here. I said goodbye at the morgue. But, I didn't believe it at first and I guess I still don't completely believe it, Aunt Iris. Weren't we going to get together and make a day of it, you and me and Jinx next month or so? I would have loved that. Jinx would've too. She's the real thing, Aunt Iris. Can you believe that? First real girlfriend I have and she's everything. Thanks to you. You know that. I'd be nothing if you hadn't been there to help me. Thank you Aunt Iris. I love you."

He knew all eyes were on him when he got up but he didn't wipe his tears. He just let them flow.

Something else flowed at the wake that evening. After calling hours were over, everyone went back to the 26th floor of the Central City Ritz. Then they gathered in one of the function rooms. Uncle Barry in dress pants and white shirt raised a full glass of beer to the assembled crowd.

"I know this is a somber time for all of us," he began, "for me and Wally, especially. But Iris told me years ago, that if she went, if, she didn't want everyone moping around on her account. She said she'd accept a somber funeral but that the wake had to be a full on irish party of a wake."

There was laughter as everyone looked around and saw their grim hero colleagues or their underage proteges and imagined either impossibilities or perhaps misdemeanors.

"And, as a private party, I think we have the right in this state to serve alcohol to our minors, so, without further ado . . . "

A double door to one side opened and Ollie Queen rolled in a table covered in bottles of beer and other alcoholic beverages.

"Messieurs et Mesdames," he began. "Choose your poison."

Laughter went up in the crowd and Wally smirked and looked at Jinx uncertainly.

"She wants you to have a good time, Wally. Are you gonna disobey her wishes?"

He smiled and grabbed a Heineken. "That would be disrespectful!"

When everyone seemed to have a drink in hand, Uncle Barry called out, "A toast! To the life and memory of the most wonderful woman I ever met, Iris West!"

"Here! Here!" came shouts from all over the room and glasses and bottles clinked together before mighty gulps were taken. Jinx sipped moderately from hers, but saw Wally gulp down his entire beer in a few seconds. He'd scarcely put it down before a bottle was flying through the air at him. He caught it easily with one hand.

"Good catch, boy!" came a deep voice and Wally turned to see Aquaman gulping down his own beer. "I hope the girl proves to be as good a one!" he added with a laugh pointing to Jinx with the brass spear that was there instead of one hand.

Wally pulled the top off this new Heineken and gulped it down as well.

"Is that how you treat all your catches?" Aquaman laughed glancing at Jinx.

"No," grinned Wally. "But you don't have enough time for me to show you and the bottle could never make me anywhere near as happy as the hourglass."

Aquaman gave a hearty laugh. Well done, he told Wally. And for the next half hour, to Jinx's amazement, Aquaman was Wally's rollicking drinking buddy, talking about cases and girls and the wonderful sea beds around Ireland, the gulf stream and more. Turned out he went by the name Orin. It was just one of many improbabilities that evening as mass quantities of liquor were imbibed by extraordinary people anxious for some kind of release from the grim circumstances. Aquaman could apparently hold his liquor with the best of them but Wally had only to drink a little water and he could deal with it even better. He seemed to have a few minutes now and then when the effect of prodigious drinking hit him but then was fine.

And Jinx certainly never thought she'd see Wally doing an irish dance, but his uncle had turned on an ipod station at the start of the wake and played a couple bagpipe and flute heavy songs. "If it's going to be an irish wake, we've got to have at least a bit of this," he said from the slightly raised stage at one end of the room. Black Canary, in skirt and blouse, immediately jumped up on the stage and whirled away. She was a lightfooted natural and knew all the steps. She shouted for a partner. "Come on you cowards!" she laughed.

Jinx gave Wally a push in the back. "Go on! You can do it."

"Just give me a second to figure it out," he said and burped.

Hmm. This could be interesting, she thought. What if he's under the influence enough to mess up? But he grinned and ascended the little raised stage. The assembled crowd laughed. One of the Flashes, Dinah! He jumped in right in step, smiling all the while and kept up with her through all the different dances no matter how fast. Finally, the music ended and the crowd gave them a roar. Black Canary hugged slender Wally. "You were wonderful, you super speed cheat!"

He smile bashfully, said thank you, complimented her and had another beer thrown at him by Aquaman as soon as he was off the stage.

"Thanks for holding up our end of things, boy!"

And also complimenting him was a tipsy Robin. And if that wasn't surprising enough, Jinx later saw what she thought was Batman, in civilian clothes, and perhaps well past tipsy. It seemed everyone was at some point. She saw all the Titans boys clearly under the influence, Gar trying, foolishly, to keep up with Wally and also trying to make some headway with Raven but getting nowhere with his slurred proposition. He had to rush off to the bathroom twice. If he hadn't already been green . . .

At points in the evening, everyone seemed to break up into groups by, teams or gender or age. For a while, Jinx was in a circle with Black Canary, a woman who had come with Green Lantern, one who'd come with Atom, Wonder Woman, Starfire and Sue Dibny. And, in a pleasant surprise to Jinx, the discussion among the women was freewheeling, in fact, pretty risque at times. They talked in shocking candor about their men and their love lives and dealing with the hero life. They also talked about all the intriguing males around them. Black Canary was facing toward Wally and Robin with their backs to her, at one point. She shook her head at the sight of him in his dress clothes and smiled at Jinx.

"The only other time I saw your Wally before this, he was, I think, 12 years old. He was at the Justice League satellite with Flash and he was just the cutest little guy. Sooooo thin. And he was all wide eyed and deferential. Such a nice boy and you could kind of see how how would turn out. And now!" she laughed pointing to him. "I mean, there must be some kind of crime at a ballet school or ballet company where we need to have Kid Flash undercover in white tights, isn't there? I mean, look at him. That picture forms pretty easy, doesn't it?"

Jinx laughed. "Believe me. I've tried to come up with something!"

The girls all laughed and from his position along the wall next to Speedy, Aqualad also formed the picture very easily. And what's more suitable for a prince in white than a prince of the deep blue, he mused.

Next to him, Speedy smirked his signature smirk, one side of his mouth a full smile the other side limp. Kid Flash dressed for ballet! Ha! Him in white tights? We soooooo have to make that happen! And, oh man, the backstage area of a ballet! Everyone in tights! Everyone! Every rear on display for you! Every single one! Mmmmm. His eyes flickered with lascivious delight at the prospect.

And Black Canary steered Jinx aside from everyone else a bit later. "I don't know if you know this, but Iris and Sue Dibny and I had a decade long back channel conversation going on, not just about the super hero biz but anything and everything. I think you kind of know how Iris felt about Wally. He was sort of her special project, trying to give him enough love in the times when she could be there to make up for the way she thought her brother and sister in law neglected him. She was so happy that he was turning out well. So, when a serious girlfriend came into the picture, and one who'd been on the other side, let me tell you. I heard about every possible misgiving about your being with Wally. Iris wasn't one to mince words. And in private company! The language! Oh my god. Worse than Ollie! This effing little, I won't even say that word, had better not hurt him. If that little villain . . um, another word I'd never repeat, hurts him . . "

Jinx smiled. "She told me she'd kill me if I did him wrong."

"I'm sure she wasn't kidding."

"I didn't think so, either."

"But in the last month or two, you know what Iris was saying?"

Jinx shook her head.

"She said, he got the right one the first time out! Can you fricking believe this! That's what she said. He got the right one the first time out. Can you fricking believe this! She was soooo happy about you and Wally. I know she was planning to do something for you two but I don't know what it was. But she was completely sold on you."

Jinx sighed and they hugged. It was like having a new older sister. They exchanged phone numbers. "Thanks, thanks . . Dinah."

And in another part of the room, Bruce Wayne approached a table where Robin and Kid Flash, in civilian clothes, were leaning back, side by side and laughing. He put a hand on Wally's shoulder and gave him a friendly pat, a gesture that Dick had never seen from him before. "Um, Wally could I have a minute with Dick?"

Wally nodded, sure, and made his way over to the circle of Gar, Cyborg, Garth and Roy.

"I've been doing some thinking Dick."

"So have I Bruce. I was a little jackass the last time we met. I wanted to hurt you. I was still mad. Hell, I am now. But-but you gave me what you could and I was a little fricking ingrate to crap on you. I-"

"Dick? Shut up. Just shut up."

Dick Grayson's mouth dropped open at the casual delivery of these words.

"You deserve my praise, Dick. There's no reasonable accounting of things that doesn't accord you praise. Teaching you to fight's not enough. You're the leader of the Titans. You've carved out a crime fighting niche of your own. You've earned everyone's respect and you've done a great job, Dick" said Bruce Wayne, and as shocking as the words were, the hug that followed them was even more amazing to Dick Grayson. He was left there speechless as Bruce Wayne picked up his beer and went over to where Green Lantern and Green Arrow were talking and laughing.

Robin shuffled uncertainly toward the circle that included his teammates as Speedy was telling them all " . . . AAU Teen Gymnastics Championship! And they're staying in . . this . . ho . . tel!" he finished with a gleeful laugh.

Robin saw that Wally hadn't been listening to Speedy but was looking at him. He pointed toward the spot where it had happened.

"He . . . me . . . did . . did . . you . . ?" He pointed again toward the spot where it'd happened, where Batman had actually hugged someone, had hugged him and had actually praised him.

"Tell me you saw that, Wally?"

Wally nodded. "A little liquor and he becomes a big softy," he said. Robin laughed. He doubled over laughing. When he stopped he let out a big exhale.

"Been holding that breath in a few years?"

Robin grinned. Maybe.

Jinx worked her way back to Wally, past an unsteady Raven edging closer on a couch to a clearly disinterested Aqualad. Oh my god! Can't she tell! Jinx allowed herself a smirk. But Wally's a dumbell? Yeah. Sure. As she got near Wally, sitting on the edge of a table next to Robin she could overhear their conversation.

" . . because you've been through it."

"Listen, if something good finally comes out of all that, I'm okay with it. The thing is, you have to let it work at its own pace. You'll wake up one morning and think you're all done with tears and that knife in your gut feeling and you'll see something that reminds you of your aunt in a particular way that makes the pain feel fresh. That's gonna happen. Don't be surprised. Don't be angry that you're not, oh, progressing. Don't try and put a timetable on it. And, Wally, any time, star then R."

Wally nodded.

"And speaking of Star," said a smiling Robin. He got up from the table and went halfway across the room to Starfire. He said a few words to her, she nodded with a grin and they left the function room.

Things finally broke up in early morning. Just as Iris West had wished, the occasion had been a source or great happiness. It had also exhausted the hotel's stores of beer. But the beer could be replaced the next day. The memories would last.


	5. Cemetery Warnings

The next day was the last step in the official process, the burial. Jinx woke with a slight hangover and drank some water. Wally was fine physically but had no energy, no desire to take a single step forward. He sat on the edge of the bed staring out the hotel room's window sighing as Jinx showered and dressed.

"Come on, Wally! Get your ass in gear!" she demanded but he didn't move. She had to pull him up off the bed and push him to the shower. He washed himself, albeit at a slow pace even for a normal person. But Jinx found herself dressing him like a mother getting her little boy ready for school. He didn't cry but he couldn't make himself take any step toward the final step the elimination of Aunt Iris from his life. Robin entered the room to find Jinx tying his tie and then combing his hair.

"What the . . ?"

Jinx parted his hair neatly to one side and then swept it back from one side of his hairline. "He'll be fine," she assured Robin. "It's just too final."

"You gonna be okay buddy?"

Wally blinked and recognized his pal. He nodded slowly to him.

"Good. Cuz your Aunt didn't want the mark she left behind to be a damaged nephew, now did she?"

It was the perfect choice of words. Wally took a deep breath. Life started to return to his eyes and he shook his head. No. No way. No fucking way. Slowly he built up to a more normal level of energy. Jinx smiled a 'thank you' to Wally's surprising friend. He rode again with Green Arrow, Black Canary, Jinx and Speedy to the church services. He made a mental not never to be seated next to Speedy again. Never mind that the archer was almost late and didn't emerge from the hotel until the AAU Teen Gympnastics Championship contestants were almost blocking exit from the parking lot lining up for their bus. Again, it was "Dude get your hand out from . . " "You sat down too fast, speedster." Sigh. "I did not. You had plenty of time to . . " he had to mutter under his breath at Speedy. Live and let live is one thing, but jeez.

At the church services, he was lost in thoughts of Aunt Iris through all the words except Uncle Barry's. He saw his mother, father and sister in the church, across the aisle. Uncle Barry had paid to fly them to Central City and had supplied the cover story that Wally had gotten a ride to Central City via a free plan ticket from a sympathetic Jump City Academy classmate.

Wally said hello to his family outside the church but quickly stepped into the Bentley with Ollie, Dinah, Jinx and Speedy as the funeral procession began. Jinx spoke to Speedy as they were getting in the car and, this once, Wally sat directly on leather. After a long slow ride, they arrived at the cemetery. The cars all passed through a black, wrought iron gate with two huge men in ill fitting suits guarding it and on up the top of the small hill at the cemetery's center. Everyone got out of their cars, the immediate family and the superhero community. Some of the latter were better disguised than others. Gar wore a nicely tailored black suit but his green skin was there for anyone to see. Jinx's pink hair and eyes were there for anyone to see. So was Wally's thick head of orange hair and the almost improbably broad shouldered physiques of Cyborg and Misters Kent, Wayne and Stewart.

There was a commotion down at the main gate of the cemetery. Wally zipped down to the gate, going super speed under the protective cover of some oversized monumentsbut just jogging in his dress shoes and black suit when in the open.

"What's the trouble?" he asked one of two coke machines in a suit holding back a camera crew, a woman in a black skirt suit with a microphone and a half dozen others at the black iron gates.

"They're not on the list and they want to come in anyway."

Wally stepped between the two guards.

"If you're not on the list of allowed guests, ma'am, why do you persist in trying to enter?"

"Who are you? Who are you?"

"I'm the deceased's nephew."

"Well I was a fwiend of Iwis West. I can't bewieve I'm not being awwowed in. Wait till we show this on Tunty-Tunty!"

"Show it all you want, ma'am. Viewers will see an old obnoxious woman showing very poor manners. My aunt did not hold your work in high regard."

"That's not twue!" she protested but moments later, another man came jogging down to the gates from the crowd gathering on top of the hill. He had a set of papers with him.

"Excuse me. I'm the lawyer for the estate and-"

The people outside the gate shouted questions to him.

"Please! Please! I'm going to read a statement from Iris West. She foresaw this very circumstance and the following was on file with my office along with her will. Quote. If my lawyer is reading this to you, Babs, you're trying to crash my funeral. No dice. You are not welcome. You were not a friend or a colleague. I was a reporter and writer. You were a teleprompter reader and celebrity sycophant who never broke her own stories. Please exit the premises."

The old, over made upwoman, camera crew and courtiers went off in a huff. But Wally watched them closely and listened closely. He knew how persistent Aunt Iris had been when she wanted a story. Maybe these newsman knockoffs would be persistent, too. Sure enough, he heard one tell the others. "I know another way in," in a half whisper.

So, he looked around, saw that no one was watching and sped up to the top of the hill. He saw the van the camera crew traveled in driving around to a smaller gate at the other end of the cemetery. He checked, again saw no one looking and super sped down to the paved path leading from that gate. He reached the gate and saw that it had no real lock. He could hear the van approaching but it wasn't in sight so he had the opportunity to try something. He knew he could vibrate through objects. And he knew he could make something explode if he vibrated his hand through it a certain way. He'd always wanted to try doing it somewhere in the middle, maybe a bit closer to the exploding side. What he was aiming for was melting. He pulled the two gates closed. Then he passed his hand through the gate so that nothing happened. He did it a second and then a third time, each time changing slightly how he vibrated his hand so that it imparted a little more energy to the wrought iron. After the third time, the gates glowed hot. He smiled that he almost had it right. He swiped his hand through it again, at super speed, and watched the iron melt and fuse together. A few pops and crackles issued from the heated metal. He passed his hand through the gate the same way at two more spots, finishing just before the van came into view.

He went back up the hill and delighted in watching the guy who'd said he knew of another way in push in vain at the now fused shut gate. He let them see him smiling down at them as he made sure they drove away.

He went back up to the top of the hill and listened, politely, with hands clasped behind his back, to more words trying to express the situation but failing. He threw a small shovel of dirt onto the casket after Uncle Barry did and cried a few more tears. His return back to where he'd been standing with Jinx was a bit uncertain and he ended up accidentally next to his sister.

"There's something funny," said his sister.

"You find humor in this situation?"

"No, I mean. You all remind me of people, you and your friends . . "

Wally turned his tear stained face angrily down toward her. "Yeah?" he growled.

"Your-your girlfriend? I mean, that's Jinny? She looks like . . . don't get mad at me. She looks like that girl Jinx. And your friends? The-the girl with the purple hair . . the green boy. I mean, he looks green. They look like . . "

Wally didn't even hear the rest of what she said. He didn't have to hear it. She'd figured it out. The little fucking brat figured it out. Well, duh, how could she not? He opened his still tearing eyes as she finished talking. She backed off a half step, warily.

"Listen you goddam little brat. You know how Aunt Iris got killed?"

"They-they said it was an aneurysm."

He shook his head. "Wrong. That's the public story. She got killed because someone realized that she's Flash's wife. They realized something about him and killed her to get at him."

"Wait, then-then Uncle Barry is . . "

Wally reproached himself for a moment but decided that she would have figured it out anyway. "That's right. And if you say one fucking word about it you may very well be murdered. And if some villain doesn't do it, I might kill you myself if I find that you said a single word. Do you understand that? Do you?"

"Then-then you and your friends are . . "

"Yeah. I'm Kid-" Wally ran off at super speed changed to his tight red and yellow uniform and ran back to her between the words. "-Flash."

"Oh my . . !"

Kid Flash slapped his hand over her mouth, not bothering to be gentle.

"No. You're not gonna shriek or shout or giggle or coo or whatever the fuck you were gonna do. You're gonna grow up real fast and right now or you'll end up dead. Do you understand me?" he leaned in close, "Dead!"

She nodded beneath his red gloved hand.

"I put up with all your stupid ass shit making fun of me and calling me names and wanting mom and dad to treat me like dirt. I put up with all of it because you were such a stupid little bitch that you'd have blabbed my secret in 5 minutes and maybe gotten yourself killed. I put up with all that shit so that you didn't put the puzzle pieces together and get yourself killed. Did you . . see . . . ?"

Kid Flash had to put his red glove over his rapidly tearing eyes at the thought of Aunt Iris and pointed toward the casket. "Did you see her? Did you? The best woman . . . " tears poured from his eyes now. "The best woman, dead. And she didn't tell anyone. No one. But someone found out and killed her to get at Flash. So , yes, you know a secret. You can keep it to yourself or you can die. Those are your options."

Kid Flash sped away and Wally was back beside her in a fraction of a second in his black suit and tie. It took two deep breaths before he could speak to her again. "Look. I . . I don't mean you harm. I don't. But that's what will happen to you if you talk about me or Jinx or my teammates or Uncle Barry," he said pointing to the casket. "Whoever wants to get at me might not be able to get me but they sure as hell know they can get my sister whenever they want. She can't run away at super speed. She can't fight at super speed. Some whack job villain who's frustrated at not being able to beat me and my friends might kill you instead. Or he might pretend to kidnap you to try to get something from me and my friends and just kill you to make sure you're not a witness. Or he might kill you just because you're related to me. So if you feel some urge to make points with your stupid ditz friends, just remember that telling them one fucking thing about any of this might be as good as slitting your own throat. Got it?"

She nodded. "I . . Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. I know you really loved her."

Wally stepped away and went over to Uncle Barry. His sister started to turn and head in the other direction and ran smack into a wickedly smiling Jinx.

"You're . . " she stammered looking up.

"That's right. And I know who you are. We've spoken on the phone but haven't met. Remember? I saw just now. He told you, or admitted it. It's not too hard to figure out when you see everyone here. Even you did. Let's talk about that," she said and pulled his sister along by the arm.

Wally's sister gulped. "Um, sorry about that stuff on the phone," she blurted out as they went past rows of oversized cemetery monuments.

Jinx looked down with another malicious smile and her eyes started to glow pink. Wally's sister froze in fear there behind a 10 foot high granite headstone monument where they stopped.. She's a demon! Wally's girlfriend, Kid Flash's girlfriend, is a demon!

Jinx took her arm and pulled the sleeve of the girl's black dress away from her arm. She carefully maneuvered the girl so that the girl's back was against the granite and her side held the girl's hand against the monument. She took the girl's hand in hers and held it over the girl's own mouth while her brown eyes went wide with terror.

"Just in case you accidentally bite," noted Jinx as she brought two fingers to the inside of the girl's upper arm. "Now, this is gonna hurt, but only you. Frankly, it'll please me. You weren't very nice to your brother. But he's a bit of a . . take on any burden to protect other people type. It's a hero thing. So, he let you dump on him because you were too fucking stupid to be trusted with a secret that might get you killed."

Jinx's eyes glowed brightly. "I really hate stupid. Stupid's most of what's wrong with the world. I guess that's why Wally appeals to me so much. It's not just the buns. It's the brains, too. But everybody goes around thinking that everyone else is kinda like them. Wally thinks that you'll remember what's for your own good."

She shook her head. "But, I'm not so sure. So I'm gonna give you a little reminder."

And with that, Jinx let loose with a steady flow of hex energy, not just a one time zap but an intense, focused flow, almost a laser of pink hex energy. Wally's sister screamed in pain. But it was completely ineffectual as her own hand prevented the noise from being loud enough for anyone to hear. Jinx smiled. This girl's pain didn't displease her in the least.

"Hmm, let's see. What should I make?" she asked cheerfully as her hex energy seared a line of flesh on the girl's arm, to the accompaniment of muffled pleading and screaming. "Maybe something very intricate and involved that'll take a long time, hmm?" she suggested mischievously.

The girl's attempted screams increased in force.

"No, I think I'll just leave you a little symbol by which to remember your brother. Any time you think of opening your stupid little mouth and giving the slightest hint about who he really is, you just remember this," she said and she traced a short line over from the end of the first one, another longer line, another short line, a horizontal line across then a matching set of lines back down to the starting point on his sister's arm. The girl was crying frantic tears of pain and trying to wiggle and squirm her way out of Jinx's grasp. But she got nowhere.

"There," said Jinx holding up the girl's arm so she could see. Flesh seared black still sizzled in the shape of a lightning bolt. "just like on the chest of Wally's uniform. Pretty good reminder, hmmm?"

The girl cried some more, tried to fall limply to the ground but was held up by Jinx and slowly regained composure, but never stopped crying, as the pain only gradually diminished.

"You can tell people you got it at a frat party on a dare, or something like that. But just remember how that felt and," she chuckled and her eyes glowed bright pink. "And, don't have any illusions that that's as high as the pain elevator goes, little girl. That's the basement. I love the boy. Every bit of him. Even the parts that you probably think are icky, because they're Wally too. And I'll kill you if I so much as think that you might have squealed about who he really is. But I'll do it slow. I'll go medieval on your little airhead party girl ass. I'll hex off a finger to start. Pretty easy to do, really. Just a bit more force than your little booboo there. And you won't bleed to death. You won't get off that easy. The wound'll be instantly cauterized. You'll just be in excruciating pain that'll make this seem like nothing. And you have lots of fingers and toes and limbs and organs and a face to sear off you before you even get close to dying. And the truth is, I'll enjoy it." She smiled and her eyes glowed pinker than ever. "Do you understand?"

Wally's sister just kept up her sobbing into her own hand without answering.

"Do you understand or do I have to kill you right now to protect him?"

She would. Wally's sister knew that she would. She nodded frantically and shouted "I understand! I understand! I understand!" into her own hand clamped over her mouth by Jinx's.

"Good, now, let's go back to the others and you can shed those tears for your aunt. She deserves them more than you do. Oh, and be polite on the phone in the future," said Jinx and she let go. Wally's sister gasped for air and sobbed heavily as Jinx led her back to the edge of the onlookers. Wally was just returning to Jinx's side from talking to Uncle Barry. He passed his sister, eyes red, tears flowing, on her way toward their parents.

"Hmmph. I wondered if she'd cry at all today," he said to Jinx with a nod toward his sister.

"Different people feel the hurt in different ways," said Jinx with a slow, world wise nod and they shared a soft kiss. When they separated, Jinx asked, "Have you told your parents, too?"

He sighed. "More like I admitted what's pretty obvious."

She noticed Dick Grayson waving to them and sent Wally over to talk to him while she went in the other direction. A few minutes later, when he went back to that location looking for Jinx, she was just returning there herself. A little ways off, his mother was crying profusely as she made her way back to the side of Mr. West, holding her right arm.

"Wow, first sis and now Mom. I was almost surprised they accepted Uncle Barry's invitation and showed up. But they really are feeling something today."

"Oh, absolutely. Especially your mother." agreed Jinx, with no expression, just staring forward where the burial was taking place. "Hey," she said cheerfully. "Dinah and Ollie are trying to get your attention." She gave him a push that way with a cheerful little smile. "I'm gonna go over and see your Dad."


	6. Pater

Wally West followed Dick Grayson into the Jump City Academy student center smiling at his pal's cheery mood. But they were just a few steps inside the door before they could see those looks again. The seniors looked at them with smirking expressions, gleams in their eyes and whispers passed between them. Dick picked up on it immediately. Precursor to a fight or something. He spun around and stopped his pal Wally in his tracks. He gave the slightest shake of his head. Wally sighed. It was so nice and toasty warm in there. It was upper 40's and breezy outside.

Dick walked out and Wally followed, long athletic strides in tandem. Both boys were wearing their official JCA winter coats, thigh lengthe and black with the JCA crest, unbuttoned and with ties on underneath, dress pants and shoes as required. Dick nodded toward a church pew style bench off to one side of the JCA quadrangle. He didn't need to bother. It was their usual routine. Seniors hadn't given up the idea of hazing the orange haired kid and the black haired kid always seen together. But it was very difficult for Wally to fight effectively without giving away who he was. And if Dick Grayson reflexively went jeet kune do ninja on their sorry asses and knocked out 6 or 8 of 'em in a few seconds it might create some curiosity about him, too. So, Kid Flash and Robin avoided a potential fight with opponents that either could have wiped out twenty of without breaking a sweat.

Wally slid over to the end of the bench. Dick slid over next to him, by rote. He put his right foot against Wally's left, his left calf, thigh and hip against Wally's and leaned his shoulder against his pal. Both boys stayed warm this way. They stared out at the quadrangle. Students weren't out there on this unpleasant day. No pretty girls to watch. They fell into their private thoughts. At first, both thought of the extra hard problem the teacher had gone over in calculus class. Wally and Dick and a Korean boy had gotten it right. All the others had botched it. From there, Dick thought of Starfire. He yawned, not because the subject didn't interest him. Nothing was more interesting but he was tired. And the timing of the yawn was fitting because making out with Starfire in his quarters had kept him up late at night before she said her bashful little smile and left. God! Cutest smile in the world. He exhaled deeply. Batman. He sniffed at the logic of it. He didn't want to admit it, but it was true, wasn't it? Getting the emotional boost of some acknowledgment from Batman had made him feel confident enough to ask her out. It was just going to his room at the Central City Ritz the night of the wake for Wally's Aunt Iris. She'd looked just as uncertain about being alone with him. But she'd kissed just as enthusiastically. And what was that taste? Was that her? That wasn't something she'd had to drink? It was like-like strawberry champagne, kissing her. That was her, wasn't it? She'd tried a beer, hadn't she? There wasn't anything like strawberry champagne being served. That was her. Holy crap that hour went fast. "I must go dear friend, Robin. It is already 2 a.m." No way! But there was the clock. 2 a.m. He was surprised, himself at where his hands had gone. And, since, they'd kissed a few times. Now? He glanced sidewise at his pal Wally. He debated asking and let several more minutes pass till they'd been about twenty minutes on the bench without a word. A recollection came to him.

"Bad night last night? Cyborg said you ran out of his place ."

Wally sighed. It'd been a week since the funeral. And Robin's words on the morning of it had been so completely right. There were episodes where suddenly he felt the pain of her loss as freshly and powerfully as when he'd first found out. They were fewer and farther between as time went on but they were still happening. And it was hard to figure what the trigger would be. Last night he'd been talking and joking with Cy, he and Beast Boy both. Robin was off somewhere with Starfire. Raven was in her quarters and the three of them were just laughing and enjoying the company in Cyborg's room while he did some computer systems checks, something about corrupted files and viruses. There wasn't even a hint of melancholy in his thoughts. And in the rare moment of quiet when Beast Boy wasn't making some joke, Cy's radio, set to the classic rock station so that Cy had the best chance of hearing the Philly International songs his mom had played growing up, had started playing a song Wally'd heard before. That treacly falsetto voice and acoustic guitar. What were they called? Bread. That was it. Bread. He'd thought all their songs were wimpy ass love songs. He'd heard that one before, too and hated it. He thought it was another lame love song with the lyrics even more over the top than their others. But this one time, he heard the lyrics and in his present circumstance he realized what they'd actually been.

I would give everything I own, just to have you back again, just to touch you once again. Crash! It wasn't a song to his girl. It was about his dad or someone, wasnt it? Damn! So quick. One moment laughing and joking with pals. The next, crushed, just obliterated by this fucking classic rock station tune tears flowing almost instantaneously.

"Yeah, I had to run out. It was a bad night after that."

"What happened?"

"A song made me think about her all of a sudden, made me feel it deep down just like that," said Wally snapping his fingers.

"It happens. You're only a week out, so I'm not surprised."

"I was just surprised at how quick the change was. I was feeling good, laughing with Gar and Cy, then bam!"

"You could've called me. Star then R."

"Well, yeah, Star."

"Hey, if we were . . uninterruptable, I'd just turn it off."

Wally smiled at Dick's new term.

Dick could just tell that he was smiling without even looking.

"It's not that bad a word," he laughed.

"Uh huh."

The immediately fell into a laughing shoving match, that, as always, ended up in a draw with 135 pound Dick the aggressor but unable to overpower 143 pound Wally.

They sat back down against each other's side and mulled over their respective thoughts for another ten minutes, both watching the wind whip leaves around in little whirlwinds all over the JCA quadrangle.

"How'd you know when it was right for you and Jinx to be . . uninterruptable?"

"I didn't. We didn't. I was a virgin. I had no idea. It just. I mean I'd wanted to before that but it just felt right that time, to her too."

Wally thought of asking a question, too, but most of what he might ask he could read between the lines.

"It's hard to know. I mean, she's from another fricking planet for god's sake!"

"And, Jinx is the girl next door," chuckled Wally.

"Yeah, I suppose there was no blueprint there either."

Another ten minutes passed in silence.

"Seriously. Star then R next time you have a really bad grief episode, dude."

"You're so touchy feely since Batman praised you," said Wally joked.

"I am not," protested Dick, not seeing that it was a joke. "I-I'm just being a good team leader. You're a valuable fighter. We need you in your best fighting frame of mind."

Wally smirked. "You're such a liar."

Dick laughed in return. "It could be true."

"Except it's not. Don't worry though. You haven't turned into a total ball of mush yet. But Gar and Cy both remarked about how cool it was the way you seem this last week."

"They did?"

"What? You don't think your minions notice how their leader's doing?"

"Did you tell 'em?"

"Yeah."

"Aw jeez! Wally!"

"If I didn't, they'd think the only difference was making out with Star!"

"Oh . . . hmmm . . . okay then."

Ten more minutes passed with the two teen hero boys in civilian clothes pressed silently against each other's side.

"Jinx is back tomorrow?" asked Dick.

"Yeah. She's visiting her mother at her farm."

"How 'bout doing a-a double date? You and Jinx and me and Star?"

Wally shrugged. "Sure. What'd you have in mind?"

"I don't know. I just don't want our next time together to be just us in the Tower again."

"I'm cool with that. I'll ask Jinx."

"You won't be popping any other questions, will you?"

"No! Don't be ridiculous. I'm 15, Dick! I-I have to have my parents permission in this state."

"So . . you checked on it?" grinned Dick.

Wally was silent. Damn! Shouldn't have said that!

"You checked on it!" repeated Dick.

"Alright. Maybe I did. So what? Shouldn't I wonder? I mean, things are going so well. I don't see why not."

They fell into another laughing shoving match and then went off to biochemistry class.

Afterward, they ran back to the T-Car and rode it back to the Tower. Because he hadn't worked out in the early morning that day, Robin was anxious to have some kind of workout now. So, Kid Flash went out with Robin to an unused airfield outside Jump City to practice coordinating some tactics. Robin wanted to be able to call out a number or code word and direct KF to attack an opponent from a particular direction or use his ability to create whirlwinds. They set up a dummy and Robin practiced running toward its left then calling out one number. KF would steam toward it from the opposite side. He'd run toward its right and call out another number. KF Air, of course, was a call for a super speed generated whirlwind.

They got back to the Tower, Kid Flash running across the bay, Robin flying across in the T-car. "Message for you," said Beast Boy to KF. "Low enough priority that we didn't buzz you. Your mom I think."

Wally raised an eyebrow. First call since the funeral. Kid Flash returned to his quarters and pulled his Titans communicator out from under his glove. He pressed a certain sequence of buttons to access his phone voice mail messages. The display on the communicator said there was only one. He hit another button.

"Wally? Wally West? This is your mother. The-the message said Kid Flash. I-I want you and-and especially Jinx to know that I didn't give your name out to anyone. I didn't tell anyone anything! I swear. I swear! You've got to tell her that. Please! She's . . ! Anyway. This-this guy calls out of the blue. He wants to talk to Wallace West, not Wally, Wallace. I asked who he was and at first he didn't want to give his name but finally he says he's Pater that's the man's name, Pater, not Peter but Pater. I asked his first name and he just said to tell you Pater called. He didn't leave his first name and he left a phone number, too, 555-6602 He asked that you please call him as soon as you can because he says he won't be in town for long. And-and remember to tell Jinx that I didn't reveal anything. -click-"

Wally tossed the communicator aside and then flopped down on his bed. Pater? That's father. That's father in latin. He sniffed. Mom didn't realize what the guy was saying. So, someone wants to talk to me and he's hinting that he's . . . Wally sighed and let his body go limp.

In extreme moments of frustration growing up, he'd sometimes wished to find that he'd been an adopted orphan. He rememberd as a little kid feeling isolated and neglected and wishing that he somehow had a real father who would take him away from all this emptiness. In a way, becoming Kid Flash and getting to spend time learning about using his super speed from Uncle Barry had been almost that sort of thing. Then he was back on his own patrolling solo and too mature, by that age, to believe in silly fantasies of a billionaire 'real' father. But this wasn't some idle wish in response to his parents' neglect and enmity. Someguy'scalling himself 'Pater', huh? Only in town a couple days huh? Well, alright. Wally sighed imagining the scam bullseye being placed on him. For just a one time genealogical research fee of $250 I can determine whether or not you're the descendant of the king of France. Or maybe it'll be the Romanovs. Or maybe it'll be scien-freaking-tology. I think I'd believe I came from the Tsar's family before I swallowed that load of crap. Getting that Titans stipend and making a couple purchases with plastic must've made him a target for marketers and scammers. Another deep breath. He admitted his curiosity to himself and picked up the phone. Every call out of Titans Tower was untraceable, so he didn't worry about Mr. "Pater" figuring out where Wally was and who he was.

The line rang once, twice and was picked up on the third one.

"Hello," answered a voice with a slight, hard to place accent.

"Is this . . Pater?"

"Wallace! Is that you, Wallace?" the voice answered excitedly. Wally was a bit put off by the guy's tremendous enthusiasm. Kind of an over the top sales technique, guy.

"This is Wally West."

"So, you go by Wally and not Wallace?"

"That's right. And what do you go by, may I ask?"

"Just E. E will do."

"E Pater? Really?"

"Wallace! I mean, Wally. I'd like to meet you tomorrow and discuss some very important information."

"Okay. It, um, it has to be after three o'clock. I attend Jump City Academy."

"Okay, Wall-Wally. How about at the Jump City Diner diner at three thirty. It's only a couple blocks-"

"I know where it is. How will I know you?"

"I'll be wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants. Didn't bring enough suits on this trip, I guess, hehe. And you'll be the one with orange hair, right?"

Wally sighed. How does this guy know anything about me? "Yeah."

"See you there, Wally, the Diner at 3:30."

Wally hung up and immediately reproached himself. You IDIOT! You didn't put a single real question to him. What is this about? What's your real name? Etc etc. If I'd done that four years ago, Flash would tell me I was being a silly little kid and that lack of focus like that can get a hero killed. And he'd be right. What the hell?

Wally was distracted the next day at JCA, but Dick didn't think anything of it. Wally was still getting over Aunt Iris. To stare off into the distance lost in thought was no big deal and a sidewise glance from up against him on the bench at the JCA quadrangle revealed that Wally's eyes weren't even watery. He's slowly getting some perspective on things and not just feeling the hurt. Good.

But Wally was thinking of other things. He couldn't stop thinking of this-this 'Pater'. His mind ran wild thinking of possibilities, everything but what actually resulted when he sprinted to an alley near the Jump City Diner and changed into dress pants and shoes, white shirt, tie, and JCA blazer. He walked to the little rectangular restaurant and stepped inside. He looked around. A man at the far end, just 35 feet away, in sweatpants and hooded sweatshirt jumped to his feet. "Wallace! I mean, Wally!" He waved for Wally to come over. Wally took a deep breath anddid. The man never removed his hood. He stuck out his hand for Wally to shake but once he had Wally's hand, didn't stop at that and hugged him about the shoulders.

"Oh, Wallace.Damn. Wally! I'm sorry. Wally. Look at you. Look at you!" he said with a smile beneath his hood. He motioned for Wally to take the seat opposite his cup of coffee in the booth on the end.

"And you're'E'?"

"My real name, well, it's not so good. Even 'E' is better."

Wally nodded. The guy was maybemid to late 20's, slender athletic build, fair skin, what of it that he could see under the hood. And he didn't seem to have anything with him. No sales pitch brochures or anything. Hmm.

"Wally. I'm so happy to get to talk to you. Look at you! Sometimes you make mistakes and never get the chance to do anything about them. But, well, that's not fair to you,living breathing perfection. I-I know a lot about you Wally. I-I should have known before this. I-I realize that."

"What is this about?" demanded Wally. "You talk about knowing me but I don't know anything about you, whoever you are and how the hell would you know anything about-"

The waitress came by. Wally orderdtwo large orange juices and three blueberry muffins. He didn't want to let the guy pay for him and immediately withdrew a ten dollar bill from the inside pocket of his JCA blazer.

"Back to the issue here. What's all this about and how do you know anything about me?"

"I know the core of things about you, Wallace," said the guy and he groaned at his failure to stop calling him that. "But what I want to say to you is so big that I want you to promise to give me an hour before leaving, before making any kind of decision."

Core of things about me? Wally bristled. "I can't promise that. And I doubt that you know much about the real me."

"Jump City Academy, huh?" said the hooded man sipping his coffee then pointing atthe patch on Wally's blazer.

"Yeah, that's, uh, where I go to school," said Wally.

"Uh huh. Do you like wearing that blazer better than your tight suit?"

"My . . tight suit, what're you talking about? I don't take uh ballet classes or dance classes or anything."

The man chuckled. "I know what you are. I know about you in your skin tight red and yellow suit"

Wally's eyes went wide. "Alright. Let's take this out of here, mister, whoever you are-"

"I told you! I'm your father," he said reaching across the table to the side of Wally's orange haired head but getting his hand swatted away. And with that swat, Wally's anxiety about this mysterious man turned to complete fury.

Wally saw just a bit of the yellow uniform the guy was wearing beneath his hooded sweatshirt. The waitress looked over where the fire haired kid and the other guy had been and saw only two still steaming coffees and a couple dollars on the table. They hadn't walked out, not that she'd seen but they were gone. What the . . ? Actually, they were at the end of an L shaped alley a quarter mile away because the fire haired kid had yanked the other guy up by his collar and vibrated them both through two brick buildings. He angrily tossed the formerly mysterious guy against a wall by a dumpster and instantaneously shed his JCA clothes in favor of his Kid Flash uniform. He advanced on Professor Zoom, who'd shed his sweatshirt and pants and was now wearing his yellow uniform, the color scheme the exact opposite of Flash's. Kid Flash grabbed him by the collar with his left hand, surprised that this villain wasn't fighting or resisting.

"Had to come up with some kind of trick to attack someone who can defend himself, huh?" Wally shouted. "This is for Aunt Iris!" he growled angrily starting to vibrate his red gloved right hand to pass it through Zoom's brain in a certain way such that all the kinetic energy would be transferred to Zoom and kill him, the same way Flash said Zoom had killed Aunt Iris.

"I didn't do it!" Zoom pleaded. "I didn't kill her!"

"Liar!" Wally shouted. "Flash told me all about it! You killed her at a costume party! You killed her, you fucking lowlife! The most wonderful woman in the world and the only person who'd loved me and you murdered her!"

"I swear it wasn't me! At least, it hasn't been me. It hasn't been me!" he pleaded. Kid Flash stopped vibrating and brandishing his right hand. He still looked at Zoom furiously but couldn't, in good conscience kill a man without hearing his explanation. "I-I should just do it," he said with a shake of his head. "This better be good," he added gesturing to Zoom to speak his piece.

"I didn't kill her. But I can't say that I won't."

Kid Flash's expression, that had been moderating, became angrier. "What! She's already dead you scumbag. And you did it!"

"Wait! Listen to me. I came to your time through time travel. But I've come here three times before this and I have no recollection of hurting Iris West."

"You murdered her! You murdered her! Flash told me! He said it was you! There was no doubt! It was you!"

"That may be true but it may be a 'me' that doesn't exist yet."

"What!"

"I traveled here from twenty eight seventy three, the year 2873 for the third time. And I know I didn't do what you're accusing me of but if you say that I did it, I-I might have done it in a future trip, leaving from, say, 2874 or 2875 perhaps. But I didn't come here for that . . I came here for-for you . . for . . my son," said Zoom in what ended as a tender tone and he reached to put his hand on Kid Flash's shoulder. Kid Flash slapped it away. This was too bizarre. He kills Aunt Iris and now acts like this with me!

"Cut the shit with that 'son' stuff. I'm a West. I'm Wally West. That's who I am. Wally West. Why do you keep saying that crap?"

Zoom chuckled. "Look at you! So handsome. Athletic as you could possibly be. Smart. High character, too. Didn't it seem odd to you that you don't look like anyone in your family?"

Kid Flash opened his mouth to speak but said nothing. That had been part of the adoption fantasy. Mom and dad are both medium complected with black hair but I'm fair skinned with orange hair. How? He'd always wondered. Now . . . No! No! This psycho killed Aunt Iris! I'm not part him. Impossible!

"I-I didn't want to be Flash's enemy when I first decided to time travel here. I just wanted to sort of challenge him. I really meant to put back all the things I stole. But I . . well, it's-it's my fault that I'm not . . on your side. I was . . so . . angry with Flash after my first trip back to this time. I thought that if he'd just stopped for a minute we could've been friends instead of enemies. I was so mad afterward, I wanted to get back at him. What would be the greatest way to strike at a man, the greatest joke to play on him? What do you think?"

"I-I have no idea," said Kid Flash, bewildered by the question.

"You are" said Zoom, quietly.

"What! What are you talking about?"

"The second time I visited this era, the machine was set for 16 years before this. You just had your fifteenth birthday a few months back, didn't you?"

Kid Flash gulped. "Um . . yeah"

"I had just read of a certain bird which tricks another bird into sitting on and protecting its eggs. Even the ornithologist writer had laughed about the incredible stupidity of the sitter species to fall for this and to unknowingly help out a competitor. It seemed like the greatest possible joke, to make Flash . . . ," He gestured to Kid Flash. You get it, right? Kid Flash stared back in shock.

"So, I traveled to this era perhaps just over 16 years ago. Records were incomplete so I only knew the name of Flash's wife but not what she looked like. I-I should have been more patient and been certain who she was. But-"

"Oh, you murdered the woman you intended to murder!"

"No! I didn't! Quite the opposite. I found the apartment where she lived and I waited outside the building in the street. A woman emerged with a suitcase with the initials 'I.W.', so I was sure that was her. I bumped into her on the street corner and struck up a conversation with Miss West. We sort of hit it off-"

"Ha! That's a lie! That's a complete and total lie! Aunt Iris would never go for the likes of you! And she'd never betray Flash!"

Zoom groaned. "Listen to me boy! I know you're very smart. I know you are. I bet you were the smartest in your class, weren't you?"

Kid Flash sighed with exasperation. This-this guy wants to set a trap with compliments, doesn't he? But-but, it was true. Even before being able to read at super speed, school had been sooooo ridiculously easy. It'd been hard to understand how other kids didn't see it that way too. He stared at Zoom a moment then sighed and nodded slightly.

"Of course," Zoom smiled. "Of course you're smarter than 20th century boys. And you were a better athlete than all the 20th century boys, weren't you? Long limbed but with better muscle and in just the right shape. You were faster than them, weren't you, even before you got super speed?. Stronger than them, pound for pound. And never sick. Isn't that true?"

More exasperation. It was all true. Fastest in the class from the first day of first grade till becoming Kid Flash which precluded ever running against other kids in school. Never sick. Another sigh and another slight nod.

"Look at you. You're a 29th century boy version of the roman god Mercury. I'm so proud to-"

"Shut up!" growled Kid Flash shoving the larger man back against a wall with both hands. "Just shut up about me! You're not going to flatter your way out of a murder rap. Tell your story and be done with it! I haven't heard anything exonerating yet."

Zoom nodded. "The woman and I hit it off. My plans for seduction went just as planned. She and I spent that evening in a hotel room. I was almost laughing when I left. It had all gone so perfectly. A special little medical device I'd brought with me told me immediately that you were already gestating within her. Oh, there were worries. What if she miscarried, a 20th century woman bearing a 29th century child? What if Flash suspected that you were not his. What if-"

"Ha! You've got the whole thing wrong! You've got the whole thing wrong and that proves it! I'm not Flash's son!" Kid Flash interrupted angrily. "I thought you knew that?"

"No, you're mine. Flash was supposed to be tricked into thinking you were his when you're actually mine. But I-I impregnated the wrong woman. Your mother is only the sister in law of Iris West. I realized that on the way out of the hotel room. Her wallet was there on the floor with her identification. Emily West. Emily! She'd answered to Ms. West but she was the wrong one. It must have been her sister in law's case with the initials I.W. that she'd had in her hand. She was the wrong one! I was irate. I walked out and never looked back. I returned to the 29th century angry at myself for botching my giant joke-"

"A-a . . . joke? That's what I am?" shouted Kid Flash through gritted teeth and grabbing Zoom and slamming him against the wall. "That's what I am, a joke!"

"Well, initially," he saw Kid Flash's furious reaction. "No! I was-I was stupid. You're-you're my son! That's why I came here I'm so proud of what you are . . son"

Kid Flash slowly removed the pressure of his elbow from Zoom's neck. He stepped back, mouth open, staring, aghast. Finally he shook his head back and forth. "No. No. No, it's not true. I'm not you . . . I'm not anything like you . . . no!"

"Who do you resemble more? Me or that man you thought was your father?"

Kid Flash wanted to answer angrily but there had always been those wisps of doubt, doubt that he'd wished was founded in truth, about his father. No. No! This guy killed Aunt Iris! He murdered Aunt Iris! I can't be . . ! But he looked at Zoom's face, bright blue eyed and with a similar shape, strong cheekbones too, and strawberry blond hair not so far off from his own orange. And he had the same wide shouldered very small waisted athletic physique, not the stocky build of his father.

"They treated you poorly didn't they? They knew. Didn't they?"

Kid Flash gasped. They. All of a sudden his parents felt like they were in a different category. They. They. Did they treat me poorly? All of a sudden, shockingly, it all made sense. The neglect, the disregard. Not my father's and the living proof of mom's cheating. Disliked by both for what I meant. That's why they . . didn't . . love me. Oh my god. And here, with the rosetta stone to his life, the magical key to understanding his life was an insane murderer, a villain and somehow . . his father. He was overpowered. He staggered a half step back. He couldn't form words. All the insanity of how he was treated. All the neglect, the disregard, the almost open dislike. Never being complimented. Never being given any attention. Never being given any time. All star in every sport but the only kid whose father never attended a game or meet ever. Never being hugged or held or shown affection. It was all . .

"So, it's true. I could tell from the way your mother answered the phone. She made it seem like any concern for you was something she shouldn't have to bother with."

Kid Flash said nothing. He stared at the ground. "They should still have loved me," he finally muttered to himself. Zoom waited. He had been hurt. These backward missing links hurt my son. And the boy still felt that hurt. He waited for Kid Flash to seem to get further in digesting the news.

"You're not a West," he said softly. "You're a-a Thawne. I'll prove it to you. I believe they can test whether DNA matches in this time, can't they?"

Kid Flash was too shellshocked to answer. Professor Zoom withdrew a syringe and vial from the pocket of his sweatshirt on the ground beside him. He took off his yellow glove, rolled up the tight yellow sleeve of his uniform and plunged the syringe into the vein at the inside of his elbow. Dark red blood gushed into the vial, quickly filling it.

"Here is the proof," he said to Kid Flash offering the filled vial and pulling back on his glove. But Kid Flash didn't take it. He stared angrily at Zoom, his fury getting deeper with each breath he took.

"You-you create a human life as a-as a . . joke and then you ignore that life for 15 years and you kill the only person who looked out for it! Are you fucking nuts! You killed Aunt Iris! She loved me without caring what I was. She loved me to make up for all the-the neglect that you started, asshole! She was the only parent I ever had! And . . and you killed her, you worthless sack of shit!"

Kid Flash swung and nailed Professor Zoom with a right and then a left and then a score more of each. Zoom barely defended himself at all, only trying to backpedal away from his 15 year old attacker but not striking back and barely blocking any of the blows. In seconds, he was a bloody, bruised mess. He started to run for it. He was a full grown man and Kid Flash was only 15, but Kid Flash was powered by pure anger and somewhere within Zoom he felt deserving of that anger. He couldn't get away and was knocked down 10 miles outside the City among some warehouses where Kid Flash administered another beating. Zoom finally got free and sprinted away with Kid Flash close behind but Zoom got away by vibrating through a mazelike series of small buildings and making a turn that Kid Flash didn't see then bolting away at this top speed.

Kid Flash circled the complex of buildings 10 times, vibrating through the interiors to see every single room. But he understood about super speed. A moment's gap was like an hour's head start between any other predator and prey. He ran back to the alley where his JCA clothes were, his thoughts swirling.

No! It's not true. It can't be true. Even if it was, it doesn't matter. I'm Wally West. I'm Kid Flash. I'm a-a hero. I'm not some villain's boy, some villain's son. I'm not some . . Thawne. Christ, it even sounds sick and twisted. Thawne. Ugh. Like a compound fracture or pus from an infection. Thawne. I'm not some psycho's son. I'm a hero. I've never done anything to hurt anyone, ever. Never. It can't be true. No.

He located his clothes in the alley in a nice safe bundle. As he quickly changed into them, a realization struck him. I could've killed him but didn't. I could've . . . how many times did I punch him. Any one of them could've been a hand vibrating through his brain the way that gives all the kinetic energy to whatever I pass through. I must've punched him 80 or 100 times. Why didn't I . . .

He wouldn't say to himself why he hadn't though, in the form of unacknowledged suspicions, he knew. He zipped up his pants and knotted his tie and saw something out of the corner of his eye amid the trash in the alley. He stared at it. Moments passed. He still stared. A little glossy reflection of light from its surface and crimson underneath. It represented so much. A minute passed then another. Still he stared. He new it was a fork in the road and knowing what it meant was taking one fork. Not knowing meant another. In the end, he could not choose ignorance. Finally, Wally reached down and picked up the vial of blood and put it in the inside pocket of his Jump City Academy blazer and started back to the Tower.


	7. Favorite of the DNA lab

"What now? What fucking now?" Wally muttered to himself before he started back to his home, Titans Tower. I must've missed the after school special on this particular situation. He wasn't sure how much of a wreck had just been made of his life or what he would do about it. The only thing he was sure of was that he he needed to know. He need to have that vial of blood analyzed even though he suspected it would do more damage to him. He was committed to finding out. He had to have that sample analyzed. He thought of The Matrix. "I just picked the red pill" he muttered.

So, he stepped behind a failing, half abandoned looking strip mall festooned with 'for lease' signs and changed into his Kid Flash uniform. He tucked the vial of Professor Zoom's blood under the tight wrist of his uniform and zipped threw the streets of Jump City then across the bay to the tower. He dropped his JCA clothes in his room and went up to the communications room looking for Robin. No one was there. He ran back down to the 13th floor, all the private quarters, and heard some voices coming from Beast Boy's room. But Dick's wasn't among them. He knocked on the door to his room. Robin answered, in full uniform, opening the door only a slit. He saw the tired and anxious expression on his pal's face.

"You okay, Wally?"

Wally tried to formulate a reasonable response but only opened his mouth without forming a single word. "I'm going to Steel City to the S.T.A.R. Labs headquarters," he finally blurted out. "I just wanted to tell someone. I'll be back ASAP."

"You sure you're okay?"

Wally nodded, what a lie he sniffed to himself, then sped back up to the communications center. Let's see if I remember his instructions. Party to be called . . search category . . intended mode of transmission is full media. He saw the light blink red next to the camera facing him. Then, the audio feed played two rings and the line was picked up and the screen filled with the image of S.T.A.R. Labs's Dr. Clyburn.

"Dr. Clyburn! I'm glad you're still there. I want to drop something off at your lab for analysis."

"Well, I was almost out the door."She looked at her watch. "It's already almost 7 o'clock here, Kid Flash. What is it?"

"A blood sample. I-I want to have the most complete possible analysis of it done and before my physical on Wednesday, if possible. I . . I am doing you a favor agreeing to that."

She nodded slightly at the quid pro quo being offered. "Alright," she sighed, "but I won't be here. I'm leaving now. Just check in at the front desk and ask for Simon Averill."

Kid Flash nodded, hung up the phone and sped out of the Tower, heading east on the interstates. He vibrated his molecules as he approached the sound barrier to avoid a sonic boom and then just kept sprinting faster and faster, tearing across the country at his best possible speed. At this speed, sounds from the outside world couldn't reach him, only the friction of the air in front of him being split by his tremendous running. Even his own feet striking pavement couldn't reach him as he moved away from each spot his foot had struck faster than the sound moved toward his ears. Electromagnetic waves could reach him and he could listen to a Titans communicator. Those sounds issued from an object moving as fast as he was. Kid Flash sprinted across the country to the S.T.A.R. Labs headquarters in Steel City in a cocoon penetrated only by the slight hissing sound of the air splitting in front of him. In this privacy, he asked himself if he should do this? Was it necessary to know? But he quickly dismissed this question. He had to know for sure. He'd always suspect anyway. A blissful ignorance was no longer possible. The only options were tormenting suspicion or knowledge and whatever came with it.

Wally slowed his pace approaching Steel City and ramped down from there to mach 10 to a careful, molecules vibrating transition under the sound barrier, avoiding a boom and then a couple hundred miles per hour down local roads into the S.T.A.R. Labs parking lot. He finished by steaming right up to Dr. Clyburn in the parking lot as she was walking to her car at her reserved space near the front door.

"Oh! Kid Flash! You startled me!"

"Sorry, Dr. Clyburn. I know, see Simon Averill inside. I just . . well, I've met you and I saw you there. I didn't want to just run right by you."

"Wait. Were you at Titans Tower in Jump City when you called me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then you ran . . ," she eyed him skeptically. "Well, I'm going to do the math tomorrow but, that's amazing."

"Um, thank you. It's-it's my thing." he shrugged.

"So, you're really anxious to have some . . something analyzed?"

"This," said Kid Flash taking off one glove and removing the vial of blood from under the wrist of his uniform. She took it in her hand and held it up to the parking lot lights.

"Whose blood is this?"

"I-I can't say ma'am. But I need to have it analyzed including making a determination of any relation to me. Please."

She gave him a look of scrutiny that he couldn't decipher and told him to go inside and ask for Simon Averill. She waved goodbye and said she'd see him Wednesday.

Kid flash did as instructed and went to the front desk. The woman there told him to go up to room 612. She started to buzz him through the security door but Kid Flash just sprinted and vibrated right through it. In 612, he handed the vial of blood to Dr. Averill, a dark haired guy in his mid thirties in a lab coat who asked him a few questions while three other technicians/researchers circled around him gawking and hmmmphing at him standing there in his Kid Flash uniform.

He got out of there with minimal conversation and just enough courtesy then sprinted back for Titans Tower. He suspected Jinx might already be there. So, he gave it his all, but it took him almost twice as long due to fatigue and he went straight to the kitchen on entering the Tower. He had some juice and ate astray baguette from end to end then started looking around for Jinx. He didn't find her and decided to wait by the great room. Standing there with nothing to do, his uncertainty about everything, himself, his origins, how he'd handled things with Professor Zoom came flooding back at him. What's it mean to be the son of a villain? Am I . . are his traits genetic? Am I-am I inclined to be evil? What problems did he bequeath to me. What'll Uncle Barry say when he finds out? Oh god. A-a freaking Thawne.

"Hey Wally," said Jinx interrupting his reveries with a pat of his backside.

"Hey," he sighed.

She glanced sideways at him. "Yeah?"

"Oh, just a-a lot on my mind."

"Well, you know what I had on my mind all weekend? You. And this is what I wanted to do," she said and squeezed his rear.

"Hey!"

"Oh yeah, like you don't want to do the same just as much," she said moving to stand so that their noses almost touched. She chuckled and pulled off one red glove then the other. She guided one hand under the black lace to soft skin and a taut round shape and then his other hand to the other side. Wally could not resist. He squeezed. He pulled her closer to him and she did the same. He kissed her and looked into those gorgeous pink eyes.

"A lot on your mind, speedster?" she whispered mockingly.

"Just one thing," he replied and picked her up and sped into his room.

If she could make him forget even that, for a time! Well, he didn't need more proof that he was in love with her, but the way that being with her wiped even those anxieties from his thoughts amazed him when he considered it afterward. But he wasn't considering that, not that evening. He gave her all the pleasure he could and got back all the pleasure she could give him.

The idea that he could think of anything else, luxuriating in the perfect pale skin of her slender hourglass figure would've seemed nuts to him leaning over her in his bed. He looked down at her smiling up at him amid the sheets of his bed and was pleased that he knew that those beautiful eyes, so perfectly set, somehow bizarre or frightening to the rest of the world weren't anything of the sort. They were wonderful and funny and intelligent. Everyone else sees her and sees scary, powerful Jinx, angry Jinx, fearsome Jinx. And while those things may be true at times, I know another Jinx, a Jinx with a body like a model that she chooses not to show all the fearful idiots, a brilliant, witty Jinx the others never get to meet, a Jinx who likes to be held in a warm embrace, a Jinx full ofdesireswho surrenders to pleasure, a Jinx I'd fight to the death to protect and the one I love.

Sometime still in the early evening, they lay on their sides in a tight embrace and Wally heard a beeping sound. Titans communicator! Oh god, Robin! The double date! He separated from Jinx and found the thing under a comforter thrown aside early on in their lovemaking. He ran through his head the way to do it, made the small screen show a keyboard then typed in "Dick, Apologies! Uninterr". He got no further as Jinx yanked him back onto the bed.

Starfire looked over Robin's shoulder by the windows of the great room. "What does uninterr mean?" she asked. Robin looked her in the eyes. "Come on. I'll show you," he said then took her hand and started toward his quarters.

Wally resumed his position holding Jinx to him head to toe. She let out a short, sigh of great satisfaction. Then she zapped the left side of his hip with a hex.

"Ow!"

She grinned watching over her side as his skin healed to flawless perfection in just a moment.

"You would be like a hundred forty three pound piece of candy to a sadist if you were ever captured, Wally. A living breathing renewable torture resource."

"Good thing there aren't any sadists around, huh?"

She could feel his smile. But her grin was much bigger as she let her fingertips dance along his gluteal muscles. "Yup, really lucky," she chuckled.

She spared him further hexes and, thankfully, she never whispered or grinned softly and spoke the word "freak" at any time that evening because he felt extremely freakish as a result of his possible origins. But, he knew that she would accept him. She loved him. She'd been considered a freak her whole life and she'd actually been on the villain side. She'd accept it. But how would he ever look Flash in the eye? Even Robin with his strong sense of justice and moral judgements.

When she woke in the morning, he was sitting up on the edge of the bed beside her. He bent down and kissed her cheek. "I have to tell you about this," he whispered. And he did. He told her everything, not only who did what and said what but how it had scrambled his head. "I-I feel . . dirty," he admitted with his face in his hands. I-I feel like there's something wrong with me and I just realized it. I spent my life being poor and-and unwanted but I was sort of cool with that. I didn't fucking like it but I'd adjusted to it. And now . . this. Your life's not that wall over there," he said pointing to one side of the room. "Oh no. It's that one," he said pointing to the opposite side. "This guy's a psycho. He-he killed Aunt Iris and I'm-I'm him. I'm from him."

"You don't know that. When will you get the results from S.T.A.R. Labs?"

"Tomorrow. They promised me they'd run the tests as fast as possible and get me info tomorrow when Robin and I get examined again."

"Why're you getting a physical again, so soon?"

He chuckled bitterly. "Remember? I'm the freak who never had an appendix."

She covered her mouth with one hand. That's why. An uneasy silence fell over them. Only broken when she muttered, "You should've killed him."

"Believe me. I've reproached myself enough times already. It's just . . . he didn't act aggressive or psycho or anything. He never even really defended himself and he said that he hadn't done it, hadn't done it yet."

"But you said Flash was sure it was him."

"He is. He saw him afterward. It was him."

"Sooooo . . ?"

"So, what if the guy left 2872 and-and . . . created me . . . with-with my mother-"

"As a joke!"

Wally nodded. "Yeah. Some sense of humor. Created me, in 1990. Then he goes back to his own time and then has a pang of conscience in 2873 and decides to check on things in 2005."

"I'm with you. So, this guy only aged a year while you went from fetus to fifteen?"

"Yeah, basically. I'd put him at late twenties, I guess. But here's the thing. He says he didn't do it or hasn't done it. And it could be true. What if he goes back to futureville and then in 2875 he's gone totally psycho with jealousy for Flash and dissatisfaction at how his-his joke went and-and whatever and comes back to 2005 and kills Aunt Iris? The one who's here from 2873 wouldn't know anything about it. He actually would be innocent even though it's fucking him who did it!"

"That's so weird. So that's why you didn't kill him?"

"I hadn't thought it all the way through right there on the spot. But, well, he-he didn't seem like it. I'd never met him before or fought him, but he-he didn't seem like a killer. I-I don't know how I face Flash knowing what I may be and that I didn't take revenge. I just . . "

"What did he seem like?"

"He seemed like he sort of regretted what he did to me."

Jinx rubbed his muscled back.

"No matter where this goes, Wally, I'm with you. I didn't ask for a pedigree or a report on the family tree or anything before I decided. I'm with you. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. A Wally West by any other name I'd love just as much."

He leaned over and kissed her. They emerged from his room very late that morning.

Kid Flash thought he might hear something from Robin about keeping up with training and whatnot but a yawning Robin said nothing to him. When he saw Robin in the kitchen, as he was piling muffins onto his plate, Robin just approached and hugged him about the shoulders and kept walking with a grin on his face. A few seconds later, Starfire hugged him, too and ran her hand back and forth through his hair before going over to Robin's side. There was no one else in the kitchen to see them, sitting there on barstools against the counter smiling at each other like that, only Kid Flash. Or to hear Starfire whisper "We should have uninterr'ed long before this, Robin.". Kid Flash smiled. He immediately knew and also knew that everyone elsewould figure it out pretty quickly.

The next day, Wednesday morning, Wally and Dick went to their Jump City Academy classes, as usual, got stuck waiting outside in the cold between classes, as usual, and sat tight beside each other overlooking the quadrangle, as usual. Wally's thoughts were a mix of mordant speculation about his own origins and thankful musings about Jinx. He glanced at Dick beside him. Dick stared out at the sun splashed quadrangle but his slightly curled lips betrayed that his thoughts were elsewhere. The two of them didn't say a word to each other the entire hour they were sitting there pressed against each other till it was almost time to go to Biochemistry class and Dick chuckled.

"It's so freaking great, Wally," he said and broke into an ear to ear grin. Wally never asked a question. Dick didn't say another word. They went to Biochemistry class. Wally could tell Dick's mind was elsewhere. He poked his thigh and pointed to the chalkboard. Dick nodded. Yup. I know. Twenty minutes later Wally had to give him another prod. Luckily he wasn't called on. When they got to the T-car, Dick asked, "Um, do you have real good notes of that lecture?"

Wally chuckled. "I thought you might ask that. I took down every word."

Dick patted his shoulder.

Back at the tower, they had a half hour to fritter away and then they went down to the infirmary. Cyborg had buzzed in the five doctors from S.T.A.R. Labs while they were still at JCA. They took Robin first. Wally almost chuckled. Not knowing Dick, they'd have no idea how goofily distracted he was right now compared to his normal super focused presence. When Robin finally emerged, he looked a bit annoyed. "Didn't do all that last time!" he muttered angrily under his breath adjusting the seat of his pants and added, "Your turn," to Wally before going back up to 14.

Kid Flash stepped inside and was met by the sight of five lab coat wearing doctors all staring at him.

"Take everything off." ordered Dr. Clyburn. Kid Flash sighed. He gave her a "do I have to?" look. Her look said that, yes, he did. With another sigh, he complied.

"You met Dr. Averill at our headquarters," she said pointing to the dark haired guy he'd spoken to two days ago and then the others in turn. "And next to him is Dr. Trosky from our DNA Lab and he's Dr. Zezel from the MIT evolutionary genetics research lab and finally, Dr. Rutherford from the human genome project."

They all nodded or muttered "good morning, Kid Flash."

"Good morning," said Kid Flash looking past all of them to the wall behind them. "Could we, uh, turn up the heat in here. It's a bit cold from my perspective."

"Should be kicking in soon. Robin complained about it, too. We'll have it up to 80 here in a minute."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said as the other doctors began to circle around him. Kid Flash sighed with irritation but didn't move and continued to make no eye contact.

"We understand your unease, Kid Flash. But this won't be the sort of physical that we just gave your teammate. You had a lesser version of that just four months ago. We're here because of the intriguing results of your first physical which were only compounded by our analysis of that blood sample you gave us. Where did you get that blood?"

"I . . I can't tell you."

"It's the wrong question anyway. I know where you got it. You got it from your father," she declared and looked for his reaction to her mastery of the situation. He was still so calm, even naked in front of them all. These metahuman types could be so intimidating, even the teen types like him. They were so used to dominating normal people. He wasn't hugely muscular, he was slender but he was a stylized perfect. The glutes, lats and delts were amazing. And that face! If he weren't so young.

But feelings of attraction to the boy made her even more determined to control things. She watched his reaction to her stating matter of factly her knowledge of where he'd gotten the blood. His posture shifted slightly but his expression was hard to read. His eyes moved back and forth crazily fast as he considered it. Maybe not surprising given who he was.

"The guys in the DNA Lab pulled all nighters without being asked to look at that blood and yours. I've never seen 'em so excited," she told him.

"It's true," attested Dr. Averill.

"Do-do you know what mitochondrial DNA is, Kid Flash?"asked Dr. Clyburn.

He refocused on the wall behind her. "Um, yeah. It's a uh minor part of the DNA strand and it's passed only from the mother, not the father."

"That's right. And that sample you gave us had mitochondrial DNA like nobody's ever seen before. Ever. What can you tell us about the person from whom you got that?"

"I can't tell you anything," he answered limply.

"This might sound sort of . . science fictionish, but it's almost like that's the DNA of a man from the future and yet, we're positive that it's your father. Still, he doesn't have some very odd quirks to his DNA that you and Flash have. Do you know what adenosine triphosphate is?"

Kid Flash nodded with no enthusiasm. He remembered from the biochemistry textbook. ATP, the energy currency of the body.

"You and Flash have this whole series of mechanisms for use of adenosine triphosphate printed in your DNA unlike anything we've ever seen. It has the lab guys completely stumped but they think it's the basis for your super speed or at leastpart of it. "

Kid Flash recalled something that Flash had said. Professor Zoom isn't a natural speedster like him and Flash. His speed somehow comes from a property of that stupid yellow uniform. He said that Zoom found a tattered remnant of a Flash uniform, who knows whose, and somehow extracted something from it and amplified it worked it into that yellow uniform but it's not in him. He's-he's just a 29th century man but not a true speedster like Flash and me.

"I could spend my whole career just figuring out a fraction of what's happening in your cellular energy conversion process," said one of the three other doctors besides Clyburn and Averill. Kid Flash had forgotten their names.

"You remember I told you about your lack of an appendix?" asked Dr. Clyburn reasserting control of the conversation.

"Yeah, but it's-it's useless anyway. So . . "

"Well, that sample from your father. We-we don't know all that much about how certain DNA gets expressed as the creation of an appendix. We think we know the rough location on which chromosome and you and he simply don't have that set of instructions, that set of protein guidelines."

"You don't have all sorts of things," Dr. Averill jumped in excitedly. "All sorts of bad things. The average person is a combination of his mother's and father's genes, good and bad in about equal measure. You're almost entirely this father of yours. You-"

"That's not true. We look a lot alike but I'm not a copy of him. For instance, his hair's not orange, just sort of strawberry blond."

"Well, people don't put out DNA to make direct copies of themselves. Even if you had all his DNA and none of your mother's, he might have produced sperm that would result in your having blond hair or orange hair or a few different options, not just an exact copy of him. That's a clone, the exact same DNA. The DNA in a man's sperm aren't all exactly the same. But the point is that you're something like 90 his."

"Ninety percent? Really?"

"We're not completely sure why but almost everything from him is dominant. Nothing seems to be recessive, and there was about ten percent of your makeup that seems to have been equally decided. And the other thing that jumps out is that there don't seem to be any-any stray junk, any hidden but unexpressed propensities for any diseases. It's like his DNA, and yours was scrubbed clean of any genetic predispositions to possible problems."

Dr. Averill said this to Kid Flash as though he was giving him some sort of gift or at the very least a great compliment. Kid Flash just sighed and kept staring passed him to the wall behind him.

"Is there a-is there a reason I had to be naked to hear this?" he asked.

Dr. Clyburnchuckled. "Dr. Zezel, especially, wants to examine you and see how the expression of certain traits shows up in you."

Kid Flash sighed. "Go ahead."

Go ahead they did. It was like a weird relative of the first examine he'd gotten. They poked and prodded him, especially that Dr. Zezel, the evolutionary genetics guy, all over, fixating on the oddest things, the shape of his face, especially his eyes and orbital bones, his hands, his lack of body hair, his fingernails and toenails,his penis and his ass. "No tail bone." pronounced Dr. Zezel. "Really?" said another. "Check for your self. You can see its absence on their MRI of him. " Wally felt a latex gloved hand pressed humiliatingly into the top of the crack of his ass. "My! He's awfully muscular. Well I'll be ..! You're right". Wally sighed angrily. He tried to think of how Jinx would laugh at this to calm himself. When it was finally done, he pulled on hisdance belt and Kid Flash uniform at super speed.

"Ohh! One more thing," asked Dr. Zezel. "Your immune system. The DNA seemed quite . . impressive. Tell us about your history of illnesses."

Clothed again, Kid Flash looked him in the eye. "The truth is I don't have any history of illness. I've never been sick. I don't get colds or upset stomachs or headaches or anything. Nothing. I never have."

"Hmmm. Fascinating. And your healing ability from cuts and whatnot? They told me about the syringe mark healing."

Kid Flash chuckled slightly. He pulled the red glove off his left hand and pulled back the tight sleeve of his uniform. He looked on the table to his side for a tray with an appropriate instrument. Ah. He picked up a scalpel. He held it up to show them then ran it down his forearm creating a 6 inch long cut, not deep but a clear open wound. A couple of them leaned away squeamishly. In seconds, something was starting to happen at the sight of the crimson line. After a few seconds more it was visibly closing. By the passage of 30 seconds, no one who hadn't seen him apply the scalpel would have known there'd ever been a cut.

"Holy shit! That's amazing."

Kid Flash said nothing. It occurred to him that he should be asking a question. It was there on the tip of his tongue but somehow he couldn't ask. I'm 90 my father and he appears to have gone insane. So . . .

They thanked Kid Flash for his time and he even saw them down the elevator and out the door to the boat launch. The retinal scanner and hand print analyzers recognized him and let him back inside. He went to the stairwell intending to super speed back up to the top but stopped and sat down on the very first step. He felt weak and let his head drop into his gloved hands.

"Great. I'm villain spawn."


	8. Father Son talk

Kid Flash sat there on the first step of the 14 story stairwell of Titans Tower for several minutes. It wasn't that he hadn't believed the story when he'd first heard it from Professor Zoom. If asked to place a bet, he would have put his money down on it being true. It explained everything. But it hadn't been confirmed. He hadn't had to accept it. Now he did. His real father was Professor Zoom, sometimes called the Reverse Flash, the whack job villain who'd killed Aunt Iris. It was true.

Villain spawn.

No tail bone. No appendix. No certainty that I don't turn nuts like him, like my . . father. Ugh. How do I face Flash? How do I tell Uncle Barry? That guy who killed the woman you're still mourning? Surprise! I'm his kid.

He sighed and wiped a tear from the corner of one eye thinking of all the time Flash had put into training him, all the kind words, just normal courtesy for Flash, just standard operating procedure for a good man dealing with a boy who was his relative, but every one, every pat on the shoulder like rain in adesert of neglect for him. What'd Robin say? Oh yeah. You've practically got a super speed dynasty there. Uh huh. There's a dynasty of sorts but not what anyone thought. Sigh. What'll Superman and Batman say? And all the others? They'll never trust me. They'll throw a sidewise squint at me every time. Hmmm. Seems fine but his skinny ass is 90 percent Zoom. I could patrol a thousand times and never be anything but a hero and they'd still look at me funny as soon as I had my back turned. They'll never let me near the satellite again. They thought I was nuts to give Jinx a chance, to fall for her. You're the son of who? Heads would shake in disgust. Once bad always bad. That's how they see it. Professor Zoom is one of the worst villains Flash's ever had to deal with and S.T.A.R. Labs says I'm 90 percent him. What'll they think of that? Sigh.

Kid Flash leaned back on his elbows a step up and forced a couple deep slow breaths. Then he breathed faster, trying to force some energy. He hated the tinge of victimhood he was feeling about the whole situation. He hadn't given in to it with his family, with the help of Aunt Iris and decided he wouldn't give in to this. I'm not a vulnerable little kid anymore. I'm15. A man. Maybe it takes some time to get over but I'm Kid fucking Flash, godammit! I'm not some charity case or some fricking guest on Jerry Springer no matter what my background is. I'm Kid fucking Flash. He stood up.

"I'm Kid fucking Flash!" he said out loud and enjoyed the mild echo in the stairwell. He ran up the stairwell at super speed, bursting out into the hall on the 13th floor and then going to his door, a red and yellow blur in the hallway. He knocked, in case Jinx was changing or something and went in. She was sitting on the edge of his bed near the nightstand with something in her hands.

"Jinx?"

She looked up surprised. "Oh, Wally. I was just going through these from your aunt. What'd the doctors say?"

Wally sighed. "I'm . . . he's my father. They said that there's something funny with my DNA, too, because I'm not like fifty fifty. I'm 90 percent him, 90 percent Zoom, 90 percent 29th century guy."

He sat down on the bed next to her. "Why didn't you tell me I don't have a tail bone?" he chuckled. "You've always got your hand back there."

She was relieved to see he could joke about it. "Really?" she smiled.

He nodded. "They told me at my physical. One guy reached back there with a rubber glove," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Sure he didn't just want to sample a pair of sweet buns?" she said with a pat.

"Please. They were all over me before that."

"But there's no doubt who's your father?"

He sighed and shook his head.

"Oh, Wally!" she hugged him. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," he whispered over her shoulder and there on the bed, he saw something surprising. He separated from Jinx. "Where'd you get those?"

"Where do you think? I'm an heiress!" she laughed.

The pictures had dropped haphazardly on the comforter. She scooped them up and turned them all face up and right side up. She shifted to sit with one leg out straight to the floor and the other bent on his bed. He adopted the same posture and she laid the pictures out between them and pulled them from the stack one after another.

"They arrived at my mom's farm Saturday with a cover letter that said they were from the estate of Iris West. Did your aunt really just divvy up her stuff?"

"Uncle Barry said that they'd just been to their lawyer because they wanted to talk about . . about having a kid and what they should do about a trust of something. He told 'em they should start thinking about wills too. I guess she did."

"I'm in a couple of these but they're mostly you. Oh! Where is it! Where is it!" she said flipping through the stack. "Oooooo here!" she said and burst into laughter. Wally groaned. It was him as a little kid running naked in the back yard at Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry's house. Jinx read the cursive script in blue pen on the back. "Under 6 and over 90 degrees clothing was optional. August 1995"

She reveled in his eye rolling exasperation. "Look at the little skinny boy's buns!"

"Oooooo! There's another one!" she giggled and flipped through the stack. She found a slightly discolored one of a little orange haired boy smiling in the bath tub. A white shirted arm could be seen along the edge of the tub and the side of a head of short cropped blond hair. Uncle Barry. Jinx looked at Wally. He smiled sort of wistfully. "What's the back say?" he asked.

"Okay . . .Giving orange hair a bath October 1991. Little son of a gun already knows his alphabet and more."

"I never saw that before. That's kind of nice."

"Look at this one!" she said, pulling one from the stack. It was a picture from a family Christmas get together. Presents and a tree could be seen in the background. People in sweaters and dress clothes were packed in tight in a semicircle around a tv and some open space. And there in that space was a reed thin orange haired boy captured in mid step by the photographer, one foot in the air, dancing and grinning, obviously quite enjoying it. Meanwhile, a semicircle of faces looked on disapprovingly, not one smile among them.

Jinx giggled. "Gee, who doesn't fit in in that family? Hmmm."

Wally studied the picture. He identified all the faces in his mind. He didn't clearly recall it but it seemed perfectly plausible, him dancing and everyone else wanting nothing to do with him. Jinx flipped the picture over. "Orange haired pariah feels joy. How dare you feel joy? December 1999"

Wally chuckled at that caption. There were 25 more photos. Aunt Iris had given Jinx photos having to do with Wally. He was in every one. Sometimes he was alone. Often, with Uncle Barry. A few times with other family and a few times with Aunt Iris who seemed to have taken almost all the pictures. Even if the other person in the photo had been covered with tape, Jinx thought she would've been able to tell. With the other Wests or other relatives, little Wally usually looked anxious, insecure and simply unhappy. They all looked at him coldly. The expressions were almost comical, silent movie theatrical glares of enmity.

But when Uncle Barry or Aunt Iris were with him, he was a different boy. He looked calmly into the camera with an arm around his Uncle Barry's waist or sat on the arm of Aunt Iris's chair at a thanksgiving get together and smiled as she rubbed his little back. There was a picture of 6 year old Wally sleeping contentedly on top of Uncle Barry's chest in his back yard hammock. There were photos of him playing catch with Uncle Barry at three different ages, throwing the ball to his uncle as a very thin 7 year old, catching it when thrown back as a 9 year old then firing it back again as an 11 year old, grinning each time.

"They were your family," was Jinx's verdict.

He nodded agreement. "Just not as often as I'd have liked."

"You know what Dinah, what Black Canary said?"

He shrugged ignorance.

"She said that she and Iris and Sue Dibny had been talking over a period of years and that you were Aunt Iris's special project. She said that Aunt Iris wanted to give you enough love to make up for how your family treated you and that she was delighted with how you were turning out. I can kind of see it from the pictures."

Wally flipped over the last one of the bunch, him standing next to Jinx, both smiling at something but not for the camera, simply captured in a moment of happiness. The caption read "First one! Holy shit! He gets it right on the first one!"

Wally burst into laughter and hugged chuckling Jinx. He held her tight and then let her go with a deep breath. "You're a very rich heiress," he said.

He went to the kitchen to get something to eat pre-lunch. He took a spot on the couch in the great room finishing off a plateful of fruit and bagels as Cy and Gar laughed and talked trash playing the new beta test version of Grand Theft Auto. He was lost in solemn thought, attention divided only enough to get food from the plate to his mouth. He sighed.

"I can help you."

"Huh? What?" Wally looked up to see Raven standing over him.

"I can help you. You look like you still have pain from your aunt's death. I can take it away."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I'm an empath, KF. I can literally take your pain from you. All you have to do is let me. Just let me touch you. Just an embrace and I can literally pull the pain from you."

"Look, I . . . that's too freaky. Isn't grief a process? But, more than that, I wasn't grieving."

She shook her head. "More denial? How can you do that? You're intelligent and yet you want to deal with situations by pretending they aren't there. You're-"

"What!" It was nearly a shout and the constant sound of button pushing by Gar and Cy stopped as their heads swiveled over to the side.

"You-you don't know what you're talking about."

"KF! Please! I do!"  
Wally jumped to his feet. "No. You don't. Because I wasn't thinking about my aunt's death except sort of tangentially. You wanna know what I was thinking about? I'll tell you. I've just found out that I'm not actually Wally West. My actual father is a guy named Thawne. You might've seen him in the papers. He's also known as Professor Zoom. He's one of Flash's arch rivals, a super speed villain. He's a whack job and a fucking murderer. He killed Aunt Iris and he's my biological father. You wanna know something else to just top it all off? I'm a joke. That's what I am. Here's a good one! Wally West! Pretty funny, huh? That's how I came to be. My biological father, a villain from the 29th century wanted to get my aunt pregnant and trick Flash into caring for the child of a villain in the mistaken belief that it was his. That was the joke that Zoom wanted to play on Flash. I was supposed to be like a- like a prank played on Flash. Only Zoom got the wrong Ms. West pregnant. So he lost interest in his joke child, in me. I just found all this out two days ago. S.T.A.R. Labs confirmed it this morning. That's what I was thinking about. Is that far enough away from denial? I'm a joke! I was created as a joke. Did I face that openly enough for you? Christ! As if having someone magically pull pain from you wouldn't be a sort of denial."

He faced her angrily, an anger that was not diminished by Jinx arriving at his side and asking what was going on. He stewed over the situation through lunch and dinner. Robin could see that his pal needed to let the anger go and knew just the prescription. He suggested that the two of them patrol through the warehouse district, waterfront and railyards for a few hours. Kid Flash readily agreed and sprinted out from the Tower and across the bay while Robin took the T-car from the roof, flying across the bay thanks to Cyborg's recent upgrades. But Robin parked the vehicle and patrolled on foot through the waterfront district, agreeing to meet Kid Flash at the edge of the warehouse district later.

Kid Flash focused his mind on his job and streaked through the warehouses and factories on the bad side of the city. But something was off. At first, it was only an odd feeling. Kid Flash couldn't quite put his finger on it. He just kept super speeding through that part of the city on the lookout for criminal activity. There wasn't any but eventually Kid Flash became certain that something else was going on. It wasn't something that the teen speedster had ever had to deal with before, but it was happening. He was being followed. He'd heard sounds a couple times, footfalls that weren't his and echoes off alley walls when he was traveling under the speed of sound. He ran through an older office park area trying to figure how to confirm it and hit upon one. He ran through a series of offices with flimsy looking dividers between cubicles. They burst apart after him even though he'd vibrated cleanly through.

Kid Flash came to a halt in the parking lot outside a large complex of warehouses.

"Come on out and show yourself!" shouted Kid Flash into the still warm night air of the half lit parking lot. "I know you're here. I know you followed me. I did an extra vibration going through those japanese style paper walls. They were going to burst if anyone came near them, even vibrating through,for a minute afterward. I know you've been trailing me. Come on out!"

There was a rustle of air in the factory parking lot and, instantaneously, a yellow clad figure, six foot two and a hundred seventy five pounds stopped 10 feet from Kid Flash.

"I-I wasn't trying to ambush you, Wallace. I-I just want to talk with you and wasn't sure how to approach you. You understand that urge don't you, a father wanting to talk to his son? They confirmed it for you didn't they, your S.T.A.R. Labs?"

Kid Flash slowly exhaled. "Yeah. They did. You're my biological father. About that urge, it hits you about every fifteen years, does it?"

"It was just one year of my time."

"You let me grow up being treated like shit. If you're really concerned about me why'd you wait till I'm fifteen to show up?"

"I . . . Wallace! I can barelytalk about this with you now, how would I be able to talk about this with you if you were ten years old? How much more emotional would a 10 year old Wallace be?"

"I don't know. How much more vulnerable was I then?"

"Wallace,Wallace, Wallace." the larger yellow clad man said, like a sort of tsk tsk and he stepped closer to Kid Flash who responded by throwing up his red gloved hand like a traffic cop telling someone to stop.

"No way. No closer!"'

"Wallace! Why must you make this so hard for me?" Professor Zoom pleaded.

"Is that what counts, what's hard for you? A real father would be concerned about his son not his convenience. When Flash was teaching me to use my super speed he stayed with me hour after hour even when he had other things to do. You're like some phony 17 year cicada of a father and it's tough on you? Well, boo fucking hoo."

"Well, why do you stop to talk to me then, Wallace, if that's your attitude?"

Kid Flash stammered.It was true. The interest wasn't only one way."I-I guess I'm . . curious but I'll never stop being angry with you. You're-you're so lucky I didn't just kill you the last time we met."

"You gave me a good beating, Wallace."

"You deserved a good beating. You deserve more beatings. 15 years away and thenmurdering Aunt Iris? You deserve lots more beatings."

"Why didn't you kill me Wallace?"

"Because there may be something to your claim that it's a later you who killed her and because I-I suppose the title of father has a lot of emotional freight, deserved or not, for me seeing as I've never really had one. And . . I'm . . curious. I have intellectual curiosity. The doctors at S.T.A.R. Labs said I'm 90 percent you. They said all kinds of things about me. I guess I'd like some answers."

"Oh, ho ho! I see, Wallace. You want something from me, too, do you? Should I beat you up as payment for your getting them? I'm still much bigger than you. I'm a match for Flash. What do you think would happen if you fought Flash, Wallace? Hmm?"

"Well, unless I'm actually a much better fighter than you. You let me beat you up last time. And why would you do that if you didn't know you deserved it? Hmm?"

Improbably, Professor Zoom smiled. "You always impress me, Wallace. Not just a young mercury but also very shrewd like an odysseus."

Kid Flash waited several moments to respond alternating between the opposite poles of telling him off or accepting the compliment. He tried to strike a middle ground. "I have to be as shrewd as I can be so that I don't get killed. I have my speed and my wits, no other protection under this uniform."

Zoom chuckled. "That uniform! Haha! It's the perfect statement of you."

Wally glanced down at his skin tight uniform, perplexed.

"Your bottom half is red but your top half is yellow. Your bottom half, your animal instincts and lust are red like Flash. Your heart and head are yellow like me. And your orange hair is a mix of the two. You've been raised a West, your lower half, but you're really a Thawne, your upper half."

Kid Flash shook his head angrily. "I'm not a Thawne. I'm a West. That could have been different, perhaps, but I was just a joke to you. Remember? Well, I don't want compliments or prophecies. I'd like some information. I have so many questions."

"Well, you'll have to give me something, Wallace. I'd like to embrace my son."

"No. You can-you can take a step for giving me an answer."

Zoom chuckled. "Alright, Wallace."

"The doctors at S.T.A.R. Labs said that I don't have an appendix. But I've never had mine taken out. They said you don't have one either. Have-have people simply evolved past having an appendix in the late 29th century?"

"No, Wallace. Such changes don't happen that fast. It's been officially discouraged, illegal even, but for hundreds of years leading up to the time I was born, parents have been sifting. That's the term, sifting. It means choosing the attributes of their offspring. Choosing to include some genetic attributes in them and to take out others. Some estimates are that a quarter of the populace or more has been at least partially sifted in 2873. You don't need an appendix. Why allow it to be there? I'm quite sure my father doesn't have one. And I don't either." Zoom fininshed and raised his eyebrows. Okay? Kid Flash sighed but said nothing and Zoom took one step toward him.

"What about my tail bone? They told me I don't have a tail bone either?"

"Oh, Wallace. Another anachronism. You don't need it. Your hip bone is stronger without it. Not having it allows you to have a narrower pelvis that's just as strong or stronger and carry less weight overall. It's another sifted trait. I see you frowning. But you shouldn't. You were given a great gift in being so finely constituted."

When Zoom finished, he raised his eyebrows again and seeing no objection took another step closer.

"The doctors, they were surprised that I didn't seem to have any unexpressed predispositions to any diseases at all. None. Things like not having a predisposition for a certain cancer but a chance of passing it on to children. They said it was like my DNA had been scrubbed clean. More sifting?"

"Of course, Wallace," he chuckled. "Would anyone have chosen a more evolved digestive system and a more evolved pelvis but let diseases fester in their DNA? Even the authorities who are supposed to be enforcing prohibitions against sifting genetic traits look the other way in regard to sifting to remove diseases."

He finished and raised an eyebrow toward Kid Flash. Okay? Kid Flash sighed and Zoom took another step toward him.

"What about . . . ?" Kid Flash glanced at his crotch.

"Wallace?"

Kid Flash cupped his hand over the appropriate spot. "My . . . you know. Did you or the-the Thawnes sift for that, too.? Is that why I'm so . . . ?"

"Hahahaha! I almost forget, Wallace that you're only 15, still a boy with a boy's thoughts at times."

"Hey! I'm not just being a stupid kid. It's more than a bit . . unusual. It always was. If I buy a jock from a store . . . I mean, no way, doesn't work for me."

"Wallace. I don't believe the Thawne family bothered to sift DNA to produce that. Some attributes are still chance. Your unusual hair, for example."

He took a step closer to Kid Flash. He was just a couple steps from him, now.

"How did they treat you, Wallace?" Zoom pleaded to know. "Your expression when I spoke to you last time seemed to indicate that you were thinking of all you'd been through at their hands. Did they really hurt such a perfect boy as you?"

Kid Flash glared at him. "Uh uh. You want information from me, you have to take a step back."

Zoom fumed. "What!"

Kid Flash's expression showed no intention to bargain over this point.

"Oh, alright, Wallace!" He took a step back.

Kid Flash spoke in a very precise, unemotional tone, almost as though it had been someone else's experience. "To this point in time, they've given me as much affection as you have. None. They never cared for me, never wanted to be bothered by having to do anything for me. They never gave me their time or affection, ever. I was almost crushed by insecurity,anxiety and an unfocused reaction of anger at times growing up. I-"

"But you still want to call yourself a West, do you Wallace?"

"My Aunt Iris, Iris West, looked out for me until you killed her. So did Flash. And I think that when I was a baby, Grandma West watched me some of the time."

"Wallace? Why do you think I'm here if I have no interest at all in you? You're the-the culmination of the Thawnes, my magnificent son! The best possible result of sifting of DNA. Even without super speed, what an athlete you would be with your slender frame and wonderful tone. Such good deltoid, calf and gluteal muscles. Ahh! And your face! Wait till your grandfather sees how handsome the continuation of his line is."

"Well, take a picture for him, then."

Zoom smiled and shook his head slightly. After a few moments, Kid Flash understood.

"What! No way. No fucking way! I'm not going with you!"

"Wallace. Think this through. You said that they did not treat you as just any boy should be treated, never mind a superlative mercury of a boy. I want to know my son, Wallace. I regret what I did in leaving you here."

"You're crazy. You-you think I would leave my friends and-and Jinx to travel to the future with you? Yeah, I was treated like dirt by my immediate family. But I'm a Teen Titan. The other Titans are my friends. Robin's like-Robin's like a combination best friend and older brother that I never had. And I love Jinx. You think I would leave them? Ever? You're nuts."

"You would form new attachments, Wallace. And you would be fascinated by the science of a future almost 900 years evolved from your present. You're a very intellectually curious boy. I know you are. I know that it intrigues you. And Wallace," Zoom paused partly for dramatic effect. "If I really did come from a year or two further in my time line, from perhaps 2874 or 2875 and killed your Aunt Iris, wouldn't your presence dull or eliminate whatever mania made me do such a thing. You can save your aunt, Wallace."

Kid Flash stared dumbfounded. Oh my god! Did he really say what I think he just said?

While he was in shock, Zoom stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his offspring.

From the roof of the nearest building where he'd been watching for a minute now, Robin pulled two birdarangs out from his utility belt and prepared to shout out a number to Kid Flash to tell him which direction to run as he threw the birdarangs to the other side.

But the yellow clad villain just hugged a shocked Kid Flash and rubbed his back. "Oh, Wallace. I was so foolish to leave you here with these cavemen."

Kid Flash, found himself in the bizarre circumstance of being hugged by a super villain. "No," he whispered. "No," he said in conversational voice. "No. No! No! No!"

He pushed the yellow suited super villain away from him.

"No! Aunt-Aunt Iris didn't want to screw up other lives for her sake. And-and, well, I'm not completely sure of time theory so I don't know that it would bring her back. Besides that, I have my friends! I have teammates, the Titans! I've made a commitment. I've cast my lot here! That's not provisional! I-I didn't tell Jinx that I love her unless something else comes along. I love her and there's no Jinx in the 29th century. There's no pal like Robin in the 29th century either. No. Uh uh. I don't care where my DNA comes from, I'm a 20th and 21st century guy."

"Wallace! Think about what you're choosing! This may be your only opportunity to be restored to the time where you were made to live. You're a Thawne. You're Wallace Thawne. Accept your destiny in the magnificent future, Wallace," said Professor Zoom offering his hand as if he would pull Kid Flash forward to the year 2873 with a tug toward him right then.

Kid Flash shook his head. "I don't believe in destinies. I believe in possibilities and trying to make those as good for people as I can by being a hero. Go back to your time. Go back as soon as possible. If I see you tomorrow, you're not my father, not that you ever were. You're just another villain who needs to be brought to justice."

"Wallace!" Zoom muttered in a pleading tone.

"You heard me!" half shouted Kid Flash his expression hard with anger.

Zoom shook his head and muttered to himself, he started to walk away and looked over his shoulder at his son. Kid Flash looked away to avoid eye contact. Some part of him regretted this.

There was a whooosh as Professor Zoom left the area at super speed. A second later, a sonic boom could be heard. Zoom accelerating past the speed of sound and not vibrating his molecules to prevent it.

From the roof, Robin peeked at Kid Flash alone in the parking lot. He just stood there sighing every few seconds and tilting his head to one side then the other lost deep in thought about all that had just taken place.

Robin pondered things a moment himself then moved away from the edge of the roof. He made his way, with the perfect stealth that only a protege of Batman could, to the end of the building away from the parking lot and Kid Flash. He jumped down from the 18 foot high building with a somersault and landed silently on his feet. He let himself sink slowly to a crouch in the process, looked around and then burst up from his crouch to sprint in the direction away from Kid Flash. He ran as hard as he could, till his lungs were on fire and the muscles of his legs burned as well. He ran to be some distance away when Kid Flash found him. Let him tell me at his own pace. He doesn't have to know that I do. He's got enough to think about for now without bothering with my knowing about it.


	9. Where he should be

Author's note: Yeah, it's a long chapter. I cut stuff to get it to this length. Anyway, thanks for the kind words. As admitted previously, I'm a complete praise whore and lap them up.

"You find anything?" asked Kid Flash speeding to Robin's sidejust short of the T-car.

"Nope. You?"

Kid Flash shook his head slightly. "Nah . . . not really," he said and he walked around to the passenger side of the T-car.

"You got room for another?"

"You don't wanna run back to the Tower?"

"Nah. I think I'd rather have company."

Robin nodded, thinking of what he'd just seen, Kid Flash choosing to live in this time rather than go with his biological father to the 29th century. "Sure. Just get that stuff off the front seat."

Kid Flash picked up a large manila envelope and jumped in. He read first at normal speed, then once interested, at super speed. Robin smirked at the sight of the pages flying around on his pal's lap.

"Hey! What's this?" he asked. He couldn't believe what he was reading. The twenty five pages inside the nine by twelve envelope were a description of, and business proposal for, "Real World Titans Tower". Kid Flash burst out laughing. "Real World! Real World! There's nothing real about our world! We're sitting in a car that can go 200 miles an hour and, oh, by the way, it also flies. I need to eat 7 meals a day and I can run through walls. My girlfriend has naturally pink eyes and hair. Yours is from another planet. Our pals are a green changeling, a teenage cyborg and the daughter of a demon. The real world. Ahahahahahahaha!" Kid Flash burst into laughter till a sobering thought occurred to him. He turned to Robin.

"We're not going to do this, right? Tell me we're not going to do this!"

"We're not going to do it. I just thought you might get a kick out of it if we had some extra time so I brought it along for you to read."

Kid Flash thumbed through it at again at super speed and became indignant.

"Did you see this crap! Did you see this?" he demanded while pointing to one page.

"KF! I'm trying to drive here."

"Oh. Sorry but this is . . ugh . . this is what I hate about mtv, okay, it's a part of what I hate about mtv. So frigging dumb. Listen to this part. "Research indicates that a significant portion of our core demographic has already formed clear impressions of the personalities of the various Titans. While we understand that these impressions do not constitute full descriptions of the actual Titans, audiences are confused by conflicting depictions. Consistent representations of every character will be maintained in the editing process. Our market research shows the following impressions already embedded in the public consciousness. Robin—Hard driving, sometimes overbearing leader. Beast Boy—Class clown. Cyborg—Techno geek. Starfire—free spirit. Raven—Cynic. Kid Flash—Girl crazy pretty boy. You believe that! Girl crazy pretty boy!"

"You think I liked 'sometimes overbearing leader'?" asked Robin, never taking his eyes from the road.

"And, even if you were almost never overbearing and I did almost nothing that could be seen as girl crazy, they'd edit the thing to make us look like that. And they go on to say how they want to quote make sure america sees everything about the Titans, not just rescues and arrests but rivalries, romances, breakups and the real R-rated Tower, all the highs and lows of Titan emotional life unquote. Yeah, I wonder which they would show more of, rescues and arrests or rivalries and R-rated romance. There's another part where they demand that couples have dates and spend time in the Tower. Oh, and, get this, quote, access must, of course, be granted to every room in Titans Tower with the exception of a single meeting room where Titans can form battle plans in private, unquote. Mutherfucker! How fucking dare they-"

"Wally! Jeez! Calm down. I told you. We're not going to do it. Not even close. I wouldn't put you or anyone else through that."

"Sorry," Wally mumbled. "I'm kind of keyed up tonight."

He took a deep breath and pushed his back into the plush leather T-car seat. He glanced over at his pal concentrating completely on his driving and expertly weaving through the city streets. He thought of his own words to Professor Zoom. Best friend and big brother I never had. He sighed. Real tough choice. Stay here with Jinx and Dick or go to the future with that-that . . villain. You want to be a father to me now, huh? Well I'm past that. I'm past needing that. I . . .

Wally's thoughts trailed off. He'd vowed, after first meeting Zoom, to be completely honest with himself about the whole situation. It was the best way to get through it without any lingering issues. So, he recalled that split second after telling Zoom to beat it. Scram back to the 29th century pal! Zoom actually sounded something like hurt. Wally sighed. Okay, I'm not past needing that. I felt sorry for him. He sighed again at the realization. I did. I . . . I wanted to be the son of someone who wanted to be my father. He shook his head. A murderer and a villain and still I feel pangs of something. God!

Wally sighed. Alright. So even though I'm doing pretty well I'd still like all that. Dad and love and family. All of that. Hmmph. He thought of a night a week back, lying in bed with Jinx. It was the early morning hours and somehow he'd been awakened. He was lying on his back with his arms around Jinx lying atop him. She let out an adorable little moan of contentment from inches away, her head over his heart. She lay sleeping there with a smile. We share everything and she loves me. She loves me. He recalled the slight surprise in his mind at the thought. He also recalled wondering about that love, which was far from unrequited. He'd thought at one point that it would change the whole world. It had really seemed possible that flowers would all open and bloom as he sprinted past with his love for her in his heart. Or something like that. It really seemed possible. When he first became a Titan and they were making love in his room at the Tower. He would leave on a mission and actually look over his shoulder to check. Ugh. So naïve. Sigh. Oh well. It really did seem possible. But, somehow, crooks kept robbing banks. They kept killing people. Sigh. Jinx's love didn't mean anything to them. Only my world was changed, not everyone else's. And, still, any scar I had could bleed if the scab was picked at hard enough. That's what Zoom was. That's what he was, someone picking at my family scab. Feeling pangs at even a guy like that? Well, that's because the scar was bleeding. Super speed healing doesn't work on everything. Hmmph. Doesn't matter if she can't make the whole world right. She's still exquisite. So fucking strong. What an incredible will. So special. Leave her? Ha!

Green gloved fingers snapped in his face.

" . . to Wally! Come in Wally!"

"Huh? Wha-?" he glanced at his smirking pal behind the wheel. They were stopped at an intersection.

"I said I was thinking of stopping to get a slice of pizza at this place that serves the best deep dish in the City. How 'bout it?"

"Oh. Um. Sure. You know me. I'm always up for food. One forty three with the appetite of three forty three."

Robin yanked the wheel and spun the T-car around a corner. A couple more quick turns and he skidded to a halt outside a small pizza shop. Robin jumped out and Kid Flash followed him inside. The place was mostly empty. It did the bulk of its business by delivery. Robin scanned the pizzas available for slice orders behind the counter.

"Green pepper and hamburger, KF?" he suggested pointing to one tray.

"Sure. Whatever you want, Robin."

"Hey, four slices of that one and two large cokes, please," said Robin to the guy behind the counter. He pulled a ten from his utility belt, laid it on the counter, turned around and gave Kid Flash a push toward one of the booths. He sat opposite him and waited for the curiosity of the other people there to subside. A 6 year old african american boy tapped on KF's shoulder from the booth behind him.

"Are you really him!" the boy gasped.

KF nodded. "I'm Kid Flash and he's Robin," he said pointing across the table. Robin waved to the boy. The boy giggled uncontrollably with both hands over his mouth. Real super heroes! The boy ran around to his mother on the other side of their booth. Pizza and cokes arrived just as the boy's mother pushed him toward them with a felt tip pen and a paper menu.

"Will you please sign a-a-," he looked back toward his mother. "Autograph?" he repeated her whispered prompt. Kid Flash and Robin signed personalized autographs for little Ty. His mother took phone pictures of each of them with Ty and then had the guy behind the counter take a picture of both her and Ty with them.

"Ty really likes your teammate Cyborg," she said as they were about to part.

"He should, " said Kid Flash putting a hand on Ty's shoulder. "Cyborg's a terrific guy. And you know what's the most powerful thing about him?" Kid Flash asked, bending down to Ty's level.

The wide eyed little boy shook his head. No. What?

"His mind," said Kid Flash tapping the side of his head. "Cyborg's really really smart. Oh boy, is he smart! He knows more than anybody about circuits and electronics and machines. If you want to be like Cyborg you have to try and be as smart as you can. You have to read books and do well in school, Ty."

Ty offered a wide eyed promise, nodding solemnly. "I'll try."

Kid Flash patted his head. "Good guy!"

His mother gave KF a look like she could have covered his face with kisses in thanks for giving her son that particular message. The boy went away grinning and waving at them as his mother started her new mantra. "You hear that, Ty? Cyborg's smart and studies."

Kid Flash slid back into the booth, opposite Robin, smiling.

"You like doing that sort of thing, don't you?" said Robin before taking a bite from a slice of pizza.

Kid Flash nodded as he devoured an entire slice of pizza in eight bites in just a second. He saw Robin's look of alarm.  
"Um . . . how 'bout two and a half me to one and a half for you?" suggested Kid Flash on the fly.

Robin shrugged. He stared at his slender pal chewing away furiously. Where did he put it all? You're a walking talking science project pal. He sighed. Man! I want to tell you that I know. I know. It's okay. I know. He watched red and yellow clad Wally closely, looking for an opening. But, his pal, Kid Flash, was taking all these very small breaths and looking anxiously off to the side at super speed, glances darting this way and that so fast it was like a film edited that way as a trick. Robin had learned that Kid Flash did that if he didn't think anyone was around or if he was worked up about something. Normally, he tried not to freak people out with super speed mannerisms or gestures.

All of a sudden, Kid Flash noticed Robin staring.

"Was I . . ?" He consciously moved his eyes back and forth rapidly.

Robin nodded. "You wanna talk about whatever's eating at you?"

Kid Flash stared right at him. He took a long, slow breath. Indecision. Finally he shook his head. "I have to talk to Flash first. He's . . . he's gotta be first."

Robin nodded. Okay. He could see that reasoning.

"Okay," he said energetically to change the mood. "Favorite type of call."

"Oooooooo. Maybe jewelry store robbery," said Kid Flash through a pensive squint.

"Jewelry store? No way. Bank. Bank is always the best. So clean. So cut and dried. Us versus them."

"Yeah, but in the daytime ones they take hostages. I hate that shit. With jewelry stores, it seems like it's the pros, like it's almost part of a code that they don't."

"Nah, Batman and I responded to a call at a jewelry store once and they had hostages."

"No way."

"Yup."

"Well . . . that's Gotham. Jump City, that doesn't happen."

"So . . . the crooks are laid back here on the west coast?"

KF adopted his best surfer boy voice. "Dooo-hude. Like . . slide all those benjamins into this bag. Kewl."

Robin cracked up at Wally sounding like that. They grinned at each other then the two teen super hero boys ate imostly insilence for a few minutes then got up and started out the door to their car. A couple photographers started taking pictures the moment they hit the door and two reporters started half shouting questions.

"Robin! Kid Flash! What brings you two to that pizza shop?"

"Good deep dish." answered Robin.

"Nothing more?"

"Just winding down after some patrolling," said Kid Flash to the press before turning to Robin. "Hey, I'll see you back at the Tower later, maybe."

Robin waved and squeezed through the crowd to the T-car.

Kid Flash sped away in the opposite direction, just some streaks of red and yellow to the press who turned to watch. He made his way to the interstate and then really poured on the speed heading east to Central City. He didn't want to do this, but he had to. He had to let Flash know. He sped into the suburbs scorching along the highway at a pace that left cars flaunting the speed limit looking like they had been parked there in the fast lane.

He sighed trying to compose himself to tell Flash what he would tell him. It felt a bit like he had betrayed Flash, betrayed him just by being what he'd just found out he was. And that hurt. Flash had been so terrific to him. He slowed slightly entering the neighborhood where Flash lived and practically coasted into his Uncle Barry's home where he saw him, in civilian clothes, just sitting in a chair in the living room staring into space.

Oh god, thought Wally. This is going to be even worse than I thought. Flash looked up and noticed his nephew in his tight, red and yellow Kid Flash suit.

"Hi, . . Wally," he offered with a very weak attempt at sounding enthusiastic.

"Hi Uncle Barry."

"What brings you out to Central City, Kid?" asked Barry Allen and he chuckled to himself. Kid? That's what she always called him. Kid. She loved him so much. Oh god.

Wally thought he couldn't feel any worse till he saw his courageous mentor lean forward and put his face in his hands as tears dropped between his fingers. Wally rushed forward, kneeling in front of his uncle and hugging him about the shoulders. As tough as her loss had been for him, how terrible must it be for Uncle Barry? He just knelt there a minute while Uncle Barry quietly sobbed, slowly coming out of it by first holding onto Wally's yellow clad shoulder then patting his orange haired head. Eventually he got up and he hugged Wally, squeezing him with all his might. There was connection to her through him. He loved her too and her love saved the boy. Her love saved him. The boy was even more precious for that reason. He hugged Wally with all his strength. Finally, Wally pulled back.

"Uncle Barry. I-I have to tell you something."

"What is it, Wally?"

Wally took a step back and leaned on the counter between the kitchen and living room.

"Uncle Barry . . . I . . . I . . . ," he took a moment to control his breathing. "I'm so sorry, Uncle Barry! I-I just found out. I'm not what I thought I was, what you thought I was. I-"

"What is it, son? If you did something wrong we'll-we'll make it right."

Wally looked into the sympathetic, tear tracked face of his uncle, the man he thought was his uncle. He willed himself to spit it out. "Uncle Barry. I'm not a West. I'm a Thawne. I just found out. S.T.A.R. Labs confirmed his story. I'm . . . oh shit, I'm so sorry, Uncle Barry." Wally's head dropped into one hand as tears welled up at having to tell him this news at a time like this. Before he could look up, though, Uncle Barry had zipped over to his side and was rubbing his shoulder with one hand.

"What's all this about, Wally?"

Wally composed himself with a deep breath. "He . . was here, Zoom was, in this time, in Jump City. I didn't know it was him at first. He left a message with my mother, calling himself Pater, latin for-for father. I met him at a diner. I found out it was him. I-I almost killed him. Maybe I should've, but he said he hadn't done it. He said he hadn't killed Aunt Iris, that he'd left from 2873 and that he hadn't done it at that point. He said maybe a later him, a 2874 or a 2875 had done it. I hesitated," said Wally with a shake of his head. "I could've killed him. But, to be honest, Uncle Barry, it wasn't just that. He-he said he was my father. He said he'd had this plan to-to, I'm sorry, Uncle Barry. I can't even say it. He thought he would get Aunt Iris pregnant and you'd raise his kid not knowing it was his, that the joke would be on you. Only he screwed up and-and . . . was . . . with Emily West not Iris West. He gave a blood sample. I beat him up and had him give some more blood but he got away. So then I took the blood sample to S.T.A.R. Labs and they confirmed that he's my . . " deep breath, " . . that he's my father. I'm so sorry, Uncle Barry," said Kid Flash and he waited for a response. He was ready to endure anything. Disgust, suspicion, a change in how he was regard, anything.

"I don't get it," said Barry Allen, finally.

"He-he wanted to-to trick you into taking care of-"

"No. You. Why are you sorry?"

"Uncle Barry! My biological father killed Aunt Iris."

"He did, Wally. Not you. What do you have to be sorry for?"

"Are you sure, Uncle Barry? S.T.A.R. Labs said I'm 90 percent him genetically, something about dominance of 29th century genes or something."

"Don't be stupid, Wally. Do I chase down crooks because they've done something wrong or because they have the wrong ancestors?"

"He's my father, Uncle Barry. He even wanted me to leave this era and go live in the 29th century as a Thawne."

"But you're here."

Kid Flash nodded. "I told him to beat it," said Kid Flash and he sighed. "It . . you know, it explains so much. I didn't belong to the man I thought was my father and I was my mother's shame." He shook his head thinking of it till he felt Uncle Barry's hand at his neck.

"You're a hero, Wally. It doesn't matter where someone's from. It's what they do that counts. You're a hero. And, as far as I'm concerned, you're family no matter what the hell your origins were. I don't have to be tricked into looking out for you. I want to."

The two Flashes hugged and Kid Flash felt the tension just melt away. A 500 pound weight dropped from his shoulders. What a fucking good man. God! What a fucking good man! He smiled at his mentor. Christ, someone like you being there first was as lucky as the lightning bolt itself.

"You shouldn't be alone Uncle Barry. I saw how you looked before I came in. You-"

"Ollie and Dinah are due any minute now," he said with a pat of Kid Flash's head. "And what you told me stops with me. No need to spread that around and let anyone wonder about you. You're the last person anyone should wonder about."

Kid Flash just smiled gratefully at Flash in civilian clothes. A few seconds later, Ollie's Bentley could be heard in the driveway. Kid Flash stayed long enough for a hug from Dinah at the door and a handshake from Green Arrow in civilian clothes. He said that he had to be getting back to Titans Tower and sped off.

He sprinted back to Jump City and Titans Tower faster than he'd ever run before. Flash accepted him. Flash was cool with it. He wasn't tainted. He wasn't just villain spawn or some suspicious skinny ass hero who'd go bad sooner or later. Not to Flash. He was still Wally, still Kid Flash. He grinned ear to ear running across the bay to the Tower while thinking of his mentor.

He ran into the Tower and up the stairwell to the 14th floor. He passed Gar and gave his green pal a hug about the shoulders. Beast Boy laughed. "What's up, KF?"

"I just feel great, Gar. I just feel great."

"Kewl. Have, um, have you seen Raven? I don't think she's in her room. She didn't answer the door."

Kid Flash shrugged. "I just got back but I haven't seen her."

Beast Boy went off down the hallway. Kid Flash hadn't taken another step when he saw Cyborg coming from the same direction as Beast Boy had come.

"KF!" said Cyborg hurrying over and half cornering his shorter, much more slender teammate against the hallway wall. "Hey, I want you to help me with something tomorrow when you and Robin get back from JCA."

"Sure, anything."

"Great. I want to test out my new tracking program. It's more for projectiles but trying to get a bead on your super speed butt'll be a good test. Can you tell just how fast you're going at any time?"

"Um, more at the lower speeds. I know what a hundred miles an hour is within a very small range of speed. Mach 10 or mach 10 plus a hundred are hard for me to tell apart."

"Well, this'll be toward the lower end of the range."

"Sure. Of course, Cy."

"Thanks. See me when you get back tomorrow."

Kid Flash nodded enthusiastically and then went to the great room. No Robin. He looked in the kitchen and then the room off the kitchen. What was that? He strode into that room with a big smile. He could see her. Raven. She was trying to hide behind a pole.

"Raven? What're you doing?"

She sighed and stepped out from behind it. "You're awfully happy."

"I should be. Things are gonna be okay with the whole deal about my-my background. And, you know, I want to say sorry for snapping at you like that. You weren't trying to hurt me. You wanted to help me. I-I'm sorry," he said and stepped forward to give her a hug. She had a funny look on her face, like maybe she didn't like to do that sort of thing. But after he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, she squeezed tight around his shoulders and then back and . .

"Hey!"

"oh . . sorry."

Kid Flash jumped back from her chuckling. "I'm Jinx property," he said and turned to leave the room before adding, "Oh. Beast Boy's looking for you."

He didn't see her roll her eyes or hear her mutter, "Never the red and yellow. Always the green."

Kid Flash circled back to the 13th floor where all the private quarters were. He was going to knock on Robin's door but saw Robin around the corner of the hallway. He sped to him, with a chuckle and hugged his surprised pal.

"Jeez, Wally. Don't do that. I can't tell it from an attack."

Wally just smiled and stepped back. "Flash is cool with it, Dick. Flash is cool with . . . with me, with what I am," he said and let out a big exhale.

"That's great, KF. Um, look, I don't know if the right thing is to tell you or not but I feel funny about it. So, I'm just gonna tell you. I drove through part of the waterfront area and didn't see anything. So, just for something to do, I turned on my communicator and tried the GPS locater function. It showed you in one location and not moving. Not moving's not your thing, so I ran that way. You weren't far off. I used a rainpipe to climb onto the roof of a building and from up on top saw you talking to that-that Professor Zoom guy."

"My father," Kid Flash said softly.

"Yeah."

"So . . . wait, you heard me say something nice about you?"

"Um . . well . . yeah."

Kid Flash shook his head. "Aw jeez! I don't mind you finding out what a freak I am or how messed up my background is, but nice words about your sorry butt are just too personal."

Robin stared quizzically. What the . . . ?

Kid Flash burst into laughter. "Wow, you're gullible."

Robin slapped his shoulder and laughed back.

"It's okay. It's okay cuz it's you," said Kid Flash.

"In the interest of evening things out. You're my best friend and yeah, there's a bit of a little bro vibe to it, not completely, but, yeah, sort of."

"Pretty weird family it must've been, huh, you and me brothers?" said Kid Flash and he adopted a frantic, headline reading tone of voice. "They came from the future! In order to find a circus!"

Robin smirked. "Hey, you might be surprised how normal the circus life was. I was very happy."

"Because you didn't have to go to school, right?"

Robin smirked some more. "Well, that was a pretty sweet feature of the life. There was a tutor at the circus and she taught me and the knife thrower's kid and the lion tamer's daughter and a couple others an hour and a half a day in the mornings."

"Oh my god! That's all?"

Robin nodded with a grin then tried to defend it, "But it was a pretty kick ass hour and a half."

"Uh huh. You are so lucky. Every day at school lasted forever for me. I had to be so careful not to use super speed."

"To protect your identity?"

"Well, yeah, that too. But if I move just, say, my hand at super speed, I go into a slower subjective time frame, then it might seem like 20 minutes passed to me when only a few seconds did. School . . ," his voice trailed off and he shook his head.

"You ever think of like, big picture, what should we do, after school and then after . . . this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean long term . . . Career . . . 40 years old. 50 years old. I can't do this after something like mid 30's, tops. Where's the guidance counselor for me and you to tell us what to do? I mean, what kind of preparation will I have for life after this? Have you thought about it?"

Kid Flash shrugged. "A bit. I think the time line for me is longer. I-I just am this way," he said gesturing to himself with both hands. "But I can't do this forever, either."

"So, what do we do?" asked Robin.

"Marry. Raise kids. Be the best possible fathers and husbands. Find something that works as a career outside this. I think I could be could at something that requires a lot of reading," he chuckled.

"Well, that's pretty much what I was thinking. I just think you and I need to take more classes at JCA. Two classes doesn't exactly put us on the early graduation track."

"No. You're right. It's kind of avoiding making a decision."

"Speaking of avoiding making decisions, . . uh . . . you gonna marry Jinx or what?"

"What kind of question is that? I'm fifteen."

"You're not normal fifteen. None of us are normal for our ages. We've all seen more shit than anyone's supposed to in a lifetime. And she's your live in girlfriend for all intents and purposes. Is that supposed to happen when you're fifteen, Wally?"

"No," Kid Flash admitted softly. "But I can't live any other way. Not now."

"Well, are you gonna?"

Kid Flash just grinned back at him. It was more powerful assent than the three letter word would have been.

"How 'bout you and Starfire? You gonna find an intergalactic justice of the peace or what?"

Robin gave the same grin back at him. Wally gave him a playful shove and they were immediately embroiled in a full out wrestling match. But Kid Flash didn't hold back his super speed. One moment, Robin was laughing and pushing with all his might against his orange haired pal. The next thing he knew, he was tied to the small support column he'd been pushing Wally toward. He was tied quite well. He struggled against his restraints but couldn't make any progress.

"Okay, nice show of super speed, pretty boy. Now untie me."

"Pretty boy? Should I really have to take insults from a captive?" asked Wally, and then, with perfect timing, Starfire came into view down the hallway. Kid Flash waved for her to approach.

"Starfire. I captured this guy. He might be some sort of impostor. Could you hold him here until you've been able to determine if this is the real Robin."

She nodded mischievously then bent her head this way and that looking at a smiling Robin. "He appears to be a physical match but we must be absolutely certain, friend KF. We cannot be too careful about intruders. The real Robin is quite adamant about that very point. The real Robin is also quite, what is the earth word? Ah, yes! Ticklish. The real Robin is quite ticklish right here," she said extending one finger to the side of his six pack abs beneath his red top.

"Ahaha! Don't do that, Star! Ahaha! Don't-ahahahahahahaha! Star! You're worse than me. Wait till-ahahahahaha!"

"Hmm. That sounded like genuine laughter. But I must be certain. The real Robin also laughs if tickled . . . here."

"No-ahahahahah! Please, Star-ahahahahahahaha!"

"And here!"

Kid Flash left with the two of them laughing softly. He looked for Jinx in the Tower and eventually found her with her legs over the side of a chair in the library reading Bartleby the Scrivener. He came up behind her and pressed one finger to her side where he knew Jinx was ticklish. She let out a shriek of combined surprise and laughter. Wally closed the book in her hands and bent around in front of her.

"Bartleby would prefer not to. But I want to," he whispered.

"Wally!"

He kissed her and stayed bent over her. She saw the grin on his face. She raised an eyebrow. She didn't have to ask.

"I saw Flash and he's cool with it, with me and my origins."

"Of course. You're such a dope sometimes. He loves you like a son. It never mattered to him where you came from."

"Oh come on. It wasn't just any guy. It was a super dangerous villain and the guy who killed my aunt."

"I told you. He loves you. It doesn't matter."

He kissed her again.

"I love you."

More kisses followed. Embraces and more kisses followed that. Super speed travel to his room. Super speed disrobing of both of them. Hours later, Jinx started to doze, exhausted from ecstasy. She patted his super speedster butt almost as a thank you. He was getting so good at vibrating it at precisely the spot where it felt so good she could barely stand it. She sighed and pulled his arm over her and against her breasts then let her self sink into contented sleep spooning with Wally.

It was a very deep sleep that she fell into and it happened again to the teen sorceress. This time, she was standing at the edge of the playground where they all brought their kids.

"Come here, honey!" she cooed to her boy and her orange haired six year old zipped to her side grinning ear to ear. She picked him up and kissed him and held him at her side. Overwhelming maternal affection. Her hips were just a little fuller now, her bust moreso. She rubbed her nose on his and he laughed. His blue eyes shined. But a moment later, they glowed bright blue all over with no white irises showing, glowed blue like hers did pink when she was angry. He jumped down from her arms and zipped across the playground. Light blue energy streamed from his fingertips to the seat of the pants of a black haired boy who jumped up but never saw her boy as he zipped back to her. He anxiously motioned for her to pick him up right away and she did.

"Andrew Allen!" she half laughed half reproached. "Why'd you hex Aaron Grayson?"

"Mom! He threw a star bolt at my bottom a minute ago!"

"I'm glad you defend yourself, Andy, honey, but your daddy would be upset if you were enemies with his friend Dick's son."

"Well then somebody should tell Aaron to stop being such a baby!"

"Did you make fun of Aaron? Is that why he threw a star bolt at you?"

The bright faced boy looked surprised that his mommy had figured it out. "Um, well . . . um . . . Daddy!"

The little boy jumped to the ground then sprinted to his father, a blur of skinny little boy leaping into the red clad arms of his father, fresh from patrolling in his all red flash suit with his mask down around his neck. He grabbed his similarly orange haired son and tossed him up in the air eliciting great laughter from the boy. She watched him rub his son's head and approach. Sigh. Such a good father. She looked up into his eyes.

"How's his sister?" he asked.

Jinx snapped out of it. She was back in Wally's bed. He was trying to slip away from her. He'd only made it as far as the edge of the bed where he was now seated. He bent over and kissed her.

"Sorry hon. I'm just soooo hungry. I have to get something."

"Wally?" she patted the side of his hip to get his attention just as he was pulling on a pair of shorts to go up to the kitchen.

"You want me to get you something, too?"

"No. I . . . I had a dream, well, sort of a dream."

"Sort of?"

"I . . . Wally, since you and I started sleeping together, I've had these dreams. Only they're not really dreams. They're-they're premonitions, really."

"You're seeing the . . . the future?"

She nodded slightly. "Two-two weeks ago I saw you talking to a guy in yellow in a parking lot. I-I saw you talking to your biological father before it happened. The-the . . . what you described to me. I-I think I saw it . . two weeks ago."

"You said you just had one?"

"Yeah."

"What are these dreams like, these premonition dreams. Are you sure they aren't regular dreams?"

"They feel different. There's a clarity to them that's completely different from regular dreams."

"Okay, well, what's going to happen in two weeks."

"They're not all two weeks ahead. This was -sigh- like-like six or eight years. We had a son, a five or maybe six year old son."

Wally's eyes went wide. "Really?"

She nodded. "Orange hair and blue eyes with super speed and hexing too. And you just asked me about his sister. You were like six or seven inches taller than me and you were wearing an all red flash suit with some kind of yellow mark on the chest to distinguish you from Flash. You must've weighed like one seventy or one seventy five. You . . . you looked real real good. Real strong."

"Aarrrgh. I had to wake you up from this dream?"

"They never last that long anyway. I don't have them often, only sometimes after we make love and I go to sleep with everything just like, like perfect."

"Go-go over it again. Tell me everything you remember."

She did. He was ecstatic, kissing her over and over. "Still together after all that time! That's great! That's great!"

"Wait a minute," protested Jinx. "What happened to not believing in destinies? Will you accept 'em if they say something nice about you? Is that it?"

He shrugged. "Pretty hypocritical, huh?" he grinned.

"Yeah," she laughed and then put her finger to the red label on his loose white gym shorts. "Flash University?" she broke up laughing. "Where'd you get those?"

"A store in Jump Ridge is selling them. There was a short article in the paper. So, I went over and bought a couple pairs. They took a picture of me holding 'em. I don't think I'll be giving away my secret identity if anyone sees Wally West in these."

She shook her head agreeing with him.

"Hey, babe. Let's talk about this when I get back from the kitchen. I'm dying for some food. You want anything? Strawberries? Ice cream? Juice? Anything?"

"Strawberries sound good. Maybe some honey or something to smear on you, too."

"Or you," Wally grinned then zipped off, vibrating right through the wall and sprinting up to the kitchen. He stopped short of the fridge. Robin was holding the door open beside Starfire. He was wearing his Teen Titans pajama bottoms. She had on his robe. He was holding out to her a jar of caramel sauce.

"But I would rather taste mustard with you," she protested.

"But I'll feel like a hundred thirty five pound hot dog if – Oh, KF!" Dick interrupted himself cheerfully, spinning around and closing the refrigerator door.

"Dick! My man!"Wally stepped forward and hugged his pal. At first Dick was taken aback but then he hugged his pal back. Starfire grinned from ear to ear.

"Ha! Silly Raven did not see how similar you two are. But I saw it right away! I knew you would be best friends. You are both warrior boys."

"No, Kory!" said Dick excitedly, holding one hand out as if to stop her. "I was thinking about this. You know what Wally is? He's not a Tamaranean Warrior," he said and framed Wally for her view with his two hands. "He's a Tamaranean Royal Lancer Scout."

Starfire gasped. "Of course!"

Wally turned to Dick with a smile. "You're really getting into all this Tamaranean stuff, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I really like it," he grinned. "It's all about honor and feelings of comradeship. I can totally get into it," he said to Wally then turned to Starfire. "His physique is totally what your books say a Royal Lancer Scout is, isn't it?"

Starfire nodded with a smile. "And the Royal Lancer Scouts are renowned for having an amazing number of orange haired members among them."

"The whole orange hair thing . . . what's the significance of it in Tamaranean culture?" asked Wally thinking of how she so often played with his hair as she passed him in the Tower. She smiled oddly.

"Well, actually, it means two things, friend Wally. For Tamaranean children, an adult with orange hair is someone they are led to believe will always be of a good temperment, never . . oh, what is the earth word? Grumpy? And I was taught, as a little girl, that if I was ever lost in a crowd of people to approach an orange haired person if there was one, though of course orange hair only occurs in about 2 people in a million on Tamaran."

Wally was pleased. "That's cool. But, you said that there were two meanings and that's the one for children."

"Yes, to adults . . " she paused and smiled bashfully, glancing at Dick. "To Tamaranean adults, orange hair signifies that a male possesses extraordinary sexual abilities and always gives his partner the maximum possible sexual pleasure. There is a famous song about a woman who has a longtime boyfriend but who spends an evening with an orange haired Royal Lancer Scout and simply cannot go back to her boyfriend afterward because of his . . his comparatively inadequate pleasuring of her." She started to sing it. "Oh dear Zorrflarb . . . so niktorf was his zangthar . . . so niktorf was his zangthar . . . how can I ever-"

"Kory! Kory! Wally doesn't understand any of that."

She put an arm around Robin's shoulders. "You are right, dear one."

"And, maybe that's why they're never grumpy," chuckled Dick. Starfire slapped him. "Well, the Royal Lancer Scouts, with so many orange haired scouts, are very popular choices for encamping in frontier towns. They are always preferred to the military police corps or supply stations or even the regular Tamaranean Warriors. They are not effective if kept on the front lines continuously. They don't have the lust for battle of the Tamaranean Warriors. But they perform their reconnaissance and attack spearheading duties wonderfully. And they're famous for their bravery. They're quite dashing."

"Okay, well, then I should certainly take it as a compliment that I'm compared to a Tamaranean Royal Lancer Scout."

Dick nodded. Wally looked at the two of them, so in love and smiled.

"Oh, hey, you're gonna love this one guys. Jinx had a um, a dream. A sort of a premonition dream. She says she's had a few now-"

"A premonition dream?" Dick raised one eyebrow skeptically.

"Yeah. She-she foresaw me meeting with, um, what you saw Dick, meeting with my biological father. She-she has them sometimes when she sleeps . . um . . in an especially contented frame of mind."

"Royal Lancer Scout," Dick said through a cough and Starfire slapped his shoulder.

"Yeah, well, anyway, she had a premonition about seven or eight years into the future. We . . . ," Wally grinned. "We were still together, she and I and we-we had . . . we-we had a son! We had a little five year old orange haired boy! We did!"

Dick leaned forward and gave his pal Wally a half hug. "That's great. That's great, Wally!"

Wally could barely contain his grin. "But, wait. Listen to this part. In her premonition, I said something to her about his sister and-"

"A daughter, too, friend KF! That's wonderful!"

"But get this, Starfire. Jinx saw our boy run across a playground at super speed and zap another boy with a blue hex-"  
"A blue hex? Holy crap. Both of your powers?"

Wally nodded. "Apparently. And when he zipped back to her she chastised him for what he did and you know what my boy said? He said that he hexed Aaron Grayson because Aaron Grayson had gotten him with a star bolt a few minutes before! Aaron Grayson, Dick! And a star bolt!"

Both Dick's and Starfire's eyes went wide as could be. Dick finally stammered a response. "Aa-aa-aa . . . Gr-gr-gray . . . m-m-my . . s-son! Our s-son! St-star bolts? Our son? Our son. Our . . son!. M-my and Kory's son!"

He and Starfire kissed. They whispered something to each other then kissed even longer. When they separated, Dick reached quickly into the refrigerator and removed the container of mustard. He and Starfire started off arm in arm out of the kitchen.

"Thank you for telling us, friend Wally," whispered Starfire as they passed. Wally smiled at the sight of the two of them walking off.

"Just trying to create pleasure like us orange hair types are supposed to." he muttered to himself. With them out of sight, he went to the fridge, got some strawberries and other things and went back to his room at super speed.

Jinx was sitting up on the bed reading now. Wally slid in beside her and offered a bowl of strawberries. She plucked a couple with a smile for a thank you.

"Mind if I ask you a question about that vision of the future, hon?"

"Shoot."

"You said I was wearing an all red uniform like Flash's?"

"Um, yeah, but there was one difference. There was yellow lettering over your heart, um, Flash West, that's what it said, Flash West."

"Good," Wally sighed in relief.

"What are you so worried about?"

"I just wondered if I was dressed as the Flash because something had happened to him. I want to be around him more. I mean, I hate that it's because of Aunt Iris's passing but we have such a bond. That's why I'm relieved to know that I have to be identified to distinguish me from him because that means he must still be around," he said and then sniffed. "Kind of ironic to be identified as a West even if it's just to call me the western Flash."

"I thought you made such a point of telling your 29th century father that you're a West."

He shrugged. "Yeah, but, well, I'm not really a West either. I never really was. They wouldn't let me be one. But I'm not a-a Thawne no matter what S.T.A.R. Labs says," he quickly added. "I'm not. I don't care what my DNA is. So, what do I do?"

Jinx smiled. "There's another option, you know? And I bet I could convince your family to go along with it and sign anything. I have a lot of influence with them."

"What? What do you have in mind?"

Wally followed his best friend into the Jump City Academy student center. He and his pal Dick were laughing and joking. They were in such good spirits. To hell with the seniors this time. To hell with them! If we have to fight them because they're going to try and haze us, then so be it. We'll kick their asses. The two teenage boys marched in making no attempt to hide their fearlessness, their courage. They wore JCA coats, ties, dress pants and shoes but anyone seeing them would not have been surprised to have been told that the orange haired boy was really Kid Flash and the jet haired boy was really Robin.

A minute later they were marching back out, their courage useless. There were no seats. On a cold, blustery day, there were no seats, every chair, every desk, every other possible sitting spot taken. And they were painting inside and waxing floors. There was literally no place at all for the two boys to sit. They walked about the place a couple times seeing open spots, a seat here, a place to sit by a radiator there. But every time they approached, someone else got the spot before them. Both boys sighed in frustration and rolled their eyes. Back outside again. Ugh.

A minute later, with a scowl, Wally slid over to the end of the high backed bench overlooking the quadrangle at Jump City Academy. His best friend, Dick slid in tight against him pushing his side against his pal's from foot to shoulder to help keep the two of them warm on this 40 degree day. Both boys stared out at the quadrangle tending to their private thoughts. After 15 minutes without a word, Wally felt a warm vibration against his left thigh. Dick felt a warm vibration against his right thigh.

"Mine."

"No way! Mine."

Wally moved quickly and fished his Titans communicator out of his pocket first.

"Too fast for you again, Grayson. See?" he added showing him the blinking light. "Mine."

He pressed the sequence of buttons for full two way video transmission. The small screen came to life. There was the face of Flash with his mask down.

"Good morning, Wally. Are you between classes? So hard to keep track of time up here in the JLA satellite."

"Yeah, Dad."

Flash shook his head. "I like that. Gotta get used to it, but I like it. Is that Dick beside you?"

Wally held the communicator out at arm's length so that Flash could see both their faces.

"Yes sir. It's me" said Dick with a nod.

"Did you get any homework in Calculus, Wally?"

"Well . . yeah."

"You should be doing it, Wally."

"But I have plenty of time to do it. Besides. It's frigging cold here. I don't think I could write out here anyway."

"Are you gonna do the homework as soon as you get back to the Tower?"

Wally sighed. "Yes sir"

"Good. I know you think you can do everything in the last picosecond but it's a bad habit to get into. Make sure he does his work right away, would you, please, Dick?"

Dick Grayson could barely hold back his grin. "Yes sir. Happy to." He and Wally could both see Flash roll his eyes at Dick's enthusiasm.

"Look, Wally. We're about to head out on a pretty big mission. I probably won't get to talk to you for a couple days. So, do your work and get your seven square meals a day and be a good teammate, okay."

Wally nodded. "Yes sir."

"Love you, Wally. See you later."

Wally could feel a smirking Dick pinching the side of his butt.

"Love you too, Dad. Good Luck."

The screen went blank and Dick laughed and pushed hard as he could, squeezing Wally into the corner at the end of the bench.

"Haha! That'll teach you! You want a real dad, and now you get your butt ridden every day and someone looking over your shoulder! Seven square meals! Haha!"

"He's my dad now! That's what he's supposed to say."

Dick grinned while shaking his head at Wally. "You're such a glomthar, Allen."

"What!"

"Nothing."

"No, not nothing," laughed Wally. "What'd you call me, a . . a glom-thar?" Wally burst into laughter and another shoving match ensued, spiced by laughing accusations that someone was turning into the Tamaranean Wonder. Eventually, the two teenage hero boys sat back down against each other.

"What's said on the bench stays on the bench, right?" suggested Wally. Dick nodded. "Okay."

"I wouldn't say this except to you. But yeah. I love being around him more. I love it, patrolling especially, even the stuff like him making me do homework and yard work and chores and stuff. I mean, I've been my own man for months. I know I can be. I still am half the time. Him telling me to do stuff doesn't diminish me. But it-it makes a connection. I lost Aunt Iris. But, that's Jinx and you and him to whom I'm really connected. Accepting being his son, accepting that-that role, it helps forge even more connection between us. And, well, it-it feels good. So, yeah, I don't like being told to do homework. But when I'm at his place, Flash looks over my work with an arm around my shoulder and talks to me for a half hour about my classes. When I get a calculus or biochemistry problem right that I was having trouble with, it-it makes him happy. It's so cool. It really does. Just to see me get better. It's a two way thing for us. I think it helps him deal with Aunt Iris's absence better, too."

Wally shrugged at Dick. That's the story. Go ahead and make fun of me if you want.

Dick nodded his head slowly. It's cool. He patted Wally's shoulder.

Not a minute later, there was another vibration against their legs.

"Mine! This time I know it's mine," said Robin. He squeezed his Titans communicator out of his pocket and pressed the buttons to allow full two way video communication. The little screen filled with the image of Batman, mask and cowl in place.

"Morning Dick . . who's that there with you?"

"Hey, Bruce," said Dick and he stretched his arm out so that the feed to Batman also showed Wally.

"Oh, hi Wally."

"Morning sir."

"Nine twenty eight your time right, Dick?"

"Yup."

"Did you get homework in your calculus class?"

Dick sighed and Wally had to slap his hand over his mouth at super speed to keep from laughing out loud that Dick was getting the same treatment..

"Yeah, I did, Bruce," admitted Dick with a sidewise glance at smirking Wally.

"Well?"

"Come on Bruce! It's cold out here and the work doesn't have to be turned in till tomorrow."

"You can use your pal's side to stay warm, Dick. Flashes have high body temperatures . . especially if they're rocking back and forth laughing like that," he said with a stern look.

Wally sat bolt upright with no expression on his face now. "You can't afford to get into lazy habits Dick. I expect . . I mean . . ," he took a slow breath. "I mean, you're better than that, son."

Dick sighed. "Yes sir."

"I'm gonna be away on a big mission for a couple days, Dick. I'll call you when I get back. Be the best guy you can be till I see you again, promise me, Dick."

"I promise, Bruce."

"I . . I think the world of you, Dick."

"Same here," said Dick despite the pinch at the side of his butt that he got from Wally.

The screen went blank. Wally doubled over laughing and a laughing Dick Grayson made a half hearted effort to push him into the corner of the bench.

"So I'm . . . so I'm . . the one getting his butt ridden by his newfound dad, huh, Grayson?" Wally laughed between gasping breaths. "You're better than that boy wonder! Ahahaha!"

"He-he didn't call me boy wonder!" Dick protested through his own laughing. "He didn't!"

"I think the world of you, boy wonder old sidekick old chum."

Both boys laughed hysterically. "Shut up, pretty boy! He's never ever called me boy wonder!"

"Cuz it feels so empty without me!" sang Wally in imitation of Eminem and fell into helpless laughter. Dick was barely any better. "I hate that video! I'm nothing like Eminem looked like dressed up in a Robin uniform."

"Do you really slouch in the batmobile like that?" asked Wally and both he and Dick burst into greater laughter. Dick punched at Wally with combinations, lefts, rights and uppercuts, fast as he could. But even a laughing Wally, dressed as just another JCA student but secretly the fastest boy alive, was able to catch every punch in mid air, toying with Dick by just slapping his fists to the side. Finally, Dick grunted or growled or made some sort of attempt at an intimidating sound and rushed Wally trying again to press him into the corner of the bench. A breathlessly laughing Wally surrendered but the terms of peace were very fair. No tribute was demanded, only a grin of apology. It was immediately granted.

Dick grinned back and they stopped pushing. There were still 25 minutes to wait before their next class. They slid in next to each other and stared out at the quadrangle alone in their thoughts. Each looked over with a grin at his pal once but at different times, seeing only the side of a head of orange hair and jet locks, respectively. But maybe they didn't feel so alone.

Wally sighed. Flash is right. But he thought of how Dick would react. He now cast a furtive glance at his black haired best friend and slowly moved the hand away from him to the large pocket on the inside of his JCA jacket where his calculus book was. Over a minute's time he moved it just six inches out of that oversized pocket. In another minute's time he moved it to his thigh then slowly angled his other hand over so that he could hold it in place to read the problems assigned by the teacher while writing out solutions on a piece of paper with his other hand. He was quite satisfied with how stealthy he'd been. He wasn't looking, but Dick obviously had no idea that he was doing his homework. He glanced over at his pal Dick to check just as Dick was casting a glance to check on him. Both boys burst into laughter because Dick was doing the same furtive obeying of his guardian that Wally was doing of his adopted father.

"Pretty silly, huh, Grayson."

"Very silly, Allen. Very silly."

"Hey, we've got at least 8 more years to get good at fooling each other."


End file.
